Darkfell vampire clan bo.., p.44
Darkfell Vampire Clan Boxset, page 44
“Hugh is organizing more manpower.” Luthor evaded. “Let's just leave it at that for now. I don't want to get your hopes up in case this doesn't work out.”
“Fair enough.” Really though, there was nothing fair about being left in the dark.
“Since you don’t want to include me, I’ll go practice.” All those cookies made me jittery, not to mention my head hurt from the sugar buzz. I might as well do something with all this nervous energy.
“Practice? Magic?” Cyrus’s grin took up his entire face. “Don’t forget, my cousin’s not here to clean up after you.”
Just hearing him say that out loud sent a stab of pain through my heart. “I'm well aware of that, and I’ll try my best to make my magic behave.”
“Take care, Seraphina,” Luthor said gravely. “Don't stray too far from the house. Hugh assured me that this place is well warded, and Cyrus confirmed that last night, but we’re out in the open now. We have to be careful.”
I reached out and tousled his hair, then kissed his nose for good measure.
“Maybe you should stay inside,” Cyrus suggested. “Just until we get a feel for the situation.”
“No,” I said softly. “I have to learn to control my magic while I still have time.” I shrugged off their obvious concern and decided to come clean. “Deston was right. I really haven't been trying all that hard these past few months.”
“Don't say that, Seraphina,” Cyrus argued. “You've been…”
“No. I'm telling you that he was right. Deep down inside…”
I might as well just tell them. “I didn't want to be a queen. I didn’t want the responsibility. I didn’t think I was ready. Subconsciously, I’ve been dragging my feet.”
Luthor looked at me for a long moment before he spoke. “And now? What’s changed?”
“Everything.” I looked out the window for a moment, trying to organize my thoughts. “Viktor’s got Deston. But more than that, I realized the stakes are higher than just us. Viktor’s ruining families, everyone lives in fear. Before last night, this whole fight seemed so far off, but…”
I rubbed my forehead, trying to get the ache to go away. “Now it’s real. Viktor’s coming for me, and if I’m not ready…”
I couldn’t say the words out loud. I couldn’t say that if I wasn’t ready, Viktor would kill all of us. I couldn’t say that if I wasn’t ready, Hugh and Lilliana and their daughters would die.
“I have to be prepared. I have to figure out my magic, and I have to be ready the next time Viktor attacks. But first, let’s get Deston back.” Everything hinged on that. I wasn’t sure why, but every instinct told me that was most important.
Luthor's face changed. Actually, the atmosphere in the room changed, becoming colder, charged with tension.
“Once we get him back, then what?
“I don't know. But one thing’s for sure. Viktor will come after us, so I can’t afford to be the weakest link anymore.”
Luthor, ever the gentleman, started to protest, and I shook my head, stopping him. “It’s true, and you know it. You and Cyrus have been doing all the heavy lifting to give me time to get my bearings. Deston did his best to walk me through the magic part.
“I didn’t take advantage of the time we had, and now I don’t have a choice. I have to figure this out.” I took Luthor’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “I'll keep practicing while you two work on finding us allies.” I managed a weak smile.
“If we get Deston back, then he can go back to doing whatever he does.”
“Even if we manage that, we’ve lost our inside access to the royal court,” Cyrus pointed out. “Which leaves us blind.”
Luthor pulled his hand out of mine. “And when Deston’s back, what then?”
“If you’re worried about Deston…” My heart felt heavy because, of course, Luthor was worried. Despite how strong my feelings were for Deston, my resolve to keep my word was stronger. This was an impossible situation, but I knew what I had with Luthor and Cyrus.
I wasn’t going to mess that up.
“Don’t be. I won’t deny something’s changed between us. Maybe because he fed from me, maybe there’s more to it. But bottom line, I don’t trust him enough to let him into our partnership.”
“Fina, we can sort this all out later,” Cyrus said gently. “Let's see if Hugh comes through on his promise and get my cousin out of prison. If we’re all still alive after that, we can sort out personal shit.”
“No, we get this settled now, before we go to the palace. I can’t go another day with this weighing on me.” I ran my hand up Luthor’s stiff arm. “On you.”
“I made you both a promise. I cannot imagine my life without you. Either of you. I will not jeopardize that, not for a second, and not even for Deston. I'm sorry I lied to you, so sorry. It has nothing to do with how much I trust you, it was just…”
“You knew I'd stop you?” Luthor tensed beneath my fingers, and I slid my hand down, grasped his, then reached out to Cyrus. “You are the most important people in my life. I can’t stand the thought of you unhappy.”
Cyrus grabbed my hand, squeezed hard, his mouth turning into a lopsided grin.
“Yes, I knew you’d stop me. But that wasn’t the whole reason.”
Luthor hadn’t pulled away from me yet, so I kept on going.
“I just wanted to have my way on this one thing. I've spent the last three months—my entire time as a vampire—doing what everyone else tells me to do. I guess I just thought it would be nice to do something by myself for once.”
“I... I never looked at it that way.” Luthor looked thoughtful, then touched my face. “I thought you didn't trust me, Seraphina. I thought you didn't trust us.” He looked at Cyrus, and after a second’s hesitation, Cyrus nodded.
“Maybe that’s what this looked like, but that's not what this was about. I just…” I clasped my hands in my lap. “Ever since Viktor snatched me off the streets, my life has been completely out of my control. Mind you, I didn't have a lot of control over my life before, but now I don’t have control over anything.”
I steeled myself and looked up at Luthor, his blue eyes drilling through me.
“I know I made a bad decision, a huge mistake actually, in convincing Deston to take me to the palace. But I knew neither of you would let me go, and I had to find out what Mom’s big secret was.” I choked off my laugh. “Little did I know…”
My voice trailed off as I realized I still hadn't told them about Lyra.
I should tell them.
They should know Lyra was still alive, but for the life of me, after keeping her existence a secret for this long, I didn’t even know how to begin explaining.
“I understand,” Luthor admitted in a hushed voice. “We should have realized we were smothering you. We certainly saw how frustrated you were. If practicing will make you feel better, then you should practice,” Luthor said quietly. “At least with Deston gone, you won't have anyone swearing at you in French.”
“Huge bonus, for sure,” I joked, even though my heart cracked open a little wider, every time someone mentioned his name. I had to figure out how to compartmentalize my conflicted feelings for him. Once I did that, he’d stop being a distraction.
“You go practice.” Luthor kissed my hand. “As soon as we have a concrete plan, we’ll let you know what the next step is. Deal?”
“Deal,” I said, feeling him relax beneath my touch. We were making progress, but I’d done serious damage to the trust between us when I’d gone behind his back to the palace, damage I still had to mend.
“Okay. Let me see if I can manage to get through a couple of hours without destroying the Cormier’s lovely property, and then you can tell me what comes next. Can you at least give me a hint?”
“Let's just say Hugh is arranging backup. If things work out, we’ll be ready to roll by tonight.”
A thrill of excitement mixed with fear went through me. We were finally going to get Deston back, after hours of just talking about it.
“Look at you, Cyrus. Scanning the internet has really paid off.”
“I know, right? There's this thing called tick-tock, like the clock…”
“Let's stay focused, Cyrus,” Luthor said. “We have a long way to go before you have any free time on your hands.”
Twenty minutes later, I was alone in the middle of the woods. I'd trudged through one perfectly manicured garden after the next and realized I just didn't have the heart to destroy any of them.
I didn't have Deston here to fix things for me, and as much as I liked to speechify about taking care of myself, I had to face facts.
I needed my men to do some stuff for me.
At least until I could figure out how to do that stuff myself.
“Alrighty then, let's see if I can manage to cast magic without causing a forest fire.”
I gathered a small ball of magic in my hand, let it grow, lifted it over the tops of the trees, and dropped back down. Aside from a few leaves that drifted down, I'd managed to not destroy a single thing.
An hour later, I was weaving streams of magic through the massive tree trunks, threading them through sliver-like openings and, so far, hadn’t even singed the bark.
Maybe not having an audience was the key.
Or maybe, as much as I hated to admit it, Deston had been right. The problem had been me all along. I didn't know what had changed, but I almost felt like I was getting the hang of this vampire queen shit.
“Very good.”
I spun around and found Lilliana watching me.
At least it looked like Lilliana, right down to her straight, blonde hair. I couldn't quite pinpoint what exactly was different about her, but I knew to my bones that this was not Maddie and Adalia's mother.
In a second, I raised every single protection I had, shuttering my mind, drawing Luthor’s power to me, readied my magic, hoping this would all be enough.
“Thanks.” I kept my hands loose at my side, just in case whoever this was decided to take a run at me.
“It's a lot harder than it looks, isn’t it?” Not-Lilliana took a step closer. Every nerve in my body constricted. Fight or flight took over as I realized I was reacting to the power that drifted off her in sheets. I knew I'd never met anyone this powerful, not even Viktor.
I double checked the shield around my mind, frantically going through everything Cyrus had taught me. She stood between me and the house, and I knew without a doubt that I’d never make it past her.
“I thought you went to the store?” I asked curiously. “Are you back already?”
After the briefest hesitation, she smiled. Her face changed, became something else entirely, especially paired with the odd tilt of her head. “I’m back, it only took a minute.” She took a step forward, the leaves crunching beneath her feet.
I held my ground. If her intention was to herd me deeper into the forest, then she’d kill me the second I lost sight of the house. Or rather, the house lost sight of me.
“I suppose you're out here to finish up that chat we had started earlier?”
“Yes, that's exactly why I'm here.” Another brief hesitation. “Seraphina.”
This woman—whoever she was—knew my name. That meant none of us were safe.
I had no idea how to play this. If Viktor sent this woman—and there was no doubt in my mind that he had—implicating the Cormiers would be a death penalty for the family, if they were even still alive. If they were dead, then I was next.
If they were alive, then I couldn't implicate Lilliana or Hugh in any way. Nor could I let her know about Luthor and Cyrus.
“I have to thank you again for helping me last night. But after my car broke down, I didn’t know what else to do. I appreciate you letting me stay here until it gets fixed.”
The smallest hint of surprise crossed her face. “Ah yes, the broken-down car. And where were you heading again?”
“Ohio. Cleveland, actually. I have family there. After I lost my job, it was the only place I could think to go. But I expect the garage will call any minute and tell me my car’s done.” I shrugged my shoulders. “Then I’ll be headed north.”
“Perhaps you should stay here, with your own kind?” Not-Lilliana said. “We have lots of room.”
There it was.
This woman knew my name, knew I was a vampire. Viktor had sent her to kill me, and nobody was here to save me this time.
I bounced nervously on the balls of my feet, leaves crackling merrily beneath my boots. “I appreciate it, but I have family waiting for me up there.”
“Seraphina, you know you're welcome here.” The woman offered me her hand, and I eyed it doubtfully. “We are friends, after all.”
If I touched her, what would happen? Could she read my mind? Even with my mental barrier? Would she dematerialize me away?
I tucked my hand away. Her eyes flashed dangerously, and something dark and cold crept through my head, like scuttling spiders or scraping revenant claws, poking, trying to cut their way in. I threw everything I had into protecting my mind from her invasion.
After a moment, frustration crinkled the corners of her mouth. A swell of relief poured through me, and I forced myself to smile up at her. Forced myself to speak the lies she expected to hear.
“I don't know what I would've done without your help. It's hard, especially…” I let my voice trailed off helplessly. “Especially being a vampire.”
“All by yourself with nowhere to go,” she mused. “You're so lucky to have found us. Even so far from the city.” Off by the house I heard voices, and the stranger’s mouth tightened.
“It is far,” I admitted. “But this is where my GPS took me, and I’m hopeless without it. I was lucky to be close to your house when my car died, don’t you think?”
In a blink, she’d linked her arm with mine.
I tried to shake her off, but her grip was like iron and just as unbreakable. I couldn’t stop the shudder that went through me, nor the ripple of fear in its wake. Power rolled off her, more power than I’d ever felt before, and behind Lilliana’s pale blue eyes something evil glittered.
“Now that you’re here, I’m loath to let you out of my sight. It's not every day one meets someone of your stature.”
Fuck. She knew exactly who I was.
This close, it was easy to spot the difference. Even wearing Lilliana’s gentle mask didn’t hide the predatory gleam in her eyes.
She dragged me deeper into the woods, toward the edge of the property.
With a flick of a finger, I shot a burst of power towards an enormous tree, wincing as I did so. The crack as the trunk splintered echoed through the forest, hopefully all the way up to the house.
The tree cut the air in two, falling straight toward us.
I leapt away as Lilliana lost her grip on my arm. In that instant, I wrapped Luthor’s shadows around me. Between one second and the next, I was crouched beside the ruined trunk, praying she hadn’t heard the leaves crunching as I sprinted to my hiding spot. The woman spun in an angry circle, searching for me.
“You sneaky little bitch. Not quite as helpless as I thought you’d be,” she crooned in that red velvet voice. “You can dream of queenhood, girl, but you’ll never be willing to make the sacrifices needed to truly access the depths of your magic.”
A cruel smile curved her face. “Killing the one who makes you weak is the only way to ensure a true rise to power. Lyra couldn’t do it.”
This woman, whoever she was… was another queen.
“I, on the other hand, was perfectly willing to kill my true mate in order to garner more power. And to make this even more delicious, I had help.”
I closed my eyes, praying she didn’t say his name.
“Deston de Rayne, your mentor. Your friend.” She looked down her nose at where she assumed I was. “I fail to see why he’d bother to help you. Though he does have a history of choosing the weak ones. Like Lyra, you’re insignificant, unfit for the throne.”
I balled my hands into fists, forced my denial back down my throat and kept my mouth shut.
She cast a wide net of magic, glittering in the cold air like black fairy dust. The edge of it never reached me, and I curled in tighter.
“You want to play games? I like games.” Her shrewd gaze scanned the woods, the fallen tree before her gaze flicked back to the house. “I know where Deston is. As a matter fact, I spent most of last night watching him suffer while I enjoyed a bottle of rather mediocre wine. How he writhed, up on Viktor’s wall.”
I bent over as pain ripped through me, from just the idea of Deston suffering. She stepped toward my hiding spot. “If you want to see him alive again, you'll do exactly what I say.”
Beneath my protective shadows, my hands shook because, yes, that's exactly what I wanted. Except Deston didn’t mean a thing to me, he didn’t. We were nearly enemies, at most, uneasy friends.
So why did her words tear me apart?
One thing was for sure, I didn’t have time for a poorly timed existential crisis. I had to get past this evil creature and back to the house to warn the others.
Crouched down beside the tree, I remained still long enough for her to search the woods, the loud crunching of leaves a constant reminder that I couldn't take so much as a step without her discovering me.
I went weak with relief when I heard my name being called from the house, a pause, then Luthor’s voice echoed through the trees once more.
With an angry scream she dematerialized but not before I glimpsed what she really looked like.
Dark hair, glittering black eyes, blood-red lips.
I’d remember that face forever and promised myself that, whoever she was, she’d pay for hurting Deston.
It took me a minute to learn to breathe again, another to trudge out of the trees and toward the house. Even so, I kept Luthor’s shadows wrapped tightly around me, just in case she wasn’t really gone.
“There you are…”
Cyrus met me halfway, his grin disappearing when I dropped my shadows and he saw my face. “What's wrong? What's happened?”
“We have a problem.”
