2. Exile
“Am I stupid?”
Leo jerked in his chair as if startled from sleep. My voice had likely done just that. He was past exhaustion, the heavy circles under his eyes so dark they could be mistaken for bruising. But the stubborn old man refused to go to bed. Instead, he slouched in the checkered-print wing chair beside the wood stove in my room, his hand resting lazily on Remington’s head. I think he was waiting for me to drift off.
That was the problem. I couldn’t drift off. Caden’s bloodthirsty red eyes met me every time I tried. Murderous eyes. And no matter how hard I concentrated, no matter how long I stared at the four by six photo of him that I held in my hand, I couldn’t call his beautiful jade eyes from my memory.
It had been a little after midnight when Leo escorted me to my second floor bedroom—a simple but cozy cedar-paneled nook with slanted ceilings and two tiny windows overlooking the mountains. A pair of pink flannel pajamas waited for me on a double bed. Just as Sofie had instructed, Leo informed me.
Now, two hours later, I lay under the plush white down duvet with my personal guard dog, Max, stretched out beside me, gazing out at a night sky speckled with brilliant stars, thinking about Caden and the others. Wondering if their previous morals and convictions still held. Wondering if Caden was mad at me for believing everything would be fine. Wondering if I was an idiot for believing in the first place.
“What’s that?” Leo murmured, his thick Irish accent as staggering now as it had been the first time I heard it only hours ago, when I learned he wasn’t merely a proper British butler, but Sofie’s warlock spy, planted in Viggo’s household fifteen years ago to keep tabs on his employer.
“Am I stupid? For believing them?”
He chuckled softly. “No, my dear Evangeline. You are far from stupid. Na?ve, absolutely. But it’s born out of an enormous heart and an enduring need to believe the best of people. Not stupidity.”
“But why? After everything that’s happened, I still lap up what people give me like a dog!”
Hey, now, Max grumbled.
I patted his massive paw in apology. “You’re no ordinary dog, Max.” That was an understatement. Max and his brothers were werebeasts, created by Mortimer before Sofie’s magic fried all vampire venom in her struggle to do the impossible—turn from witch to vampire. Besides their giant muscular bodies, they had the regenerative abilities and super senses of a human vampire, as well as telepathic links with their maker. Except Max. He was special. When Max switched his allegiance to me after the attack in Central Park, I began hearing him inside my head. It was only one way, unfortunately, but he understood every word that came out of my mouth.
Leo shifted in his chair to face me. “Honestly, I don’t know what keeps your spirits so high. With all that has happened to you, we expected one jaded young woman. And yet you keep surprising us with this unworldly resilience.” He smiled gently. “That’s a good thing, by the way.”
“I guess so,” I murmured after a moment.
“It is!” he insisted. “It’s what makes you so damn lovable.”
I leaned into Max’s shoulder, hiding the blush I felt creeping into my cheeks at the compliment, such attention unfamiliar to me. I’d spent the last five years utterly invisible. Of course now I knew that was all Sofie’s doing, her compelling everyone to keep their distance for fear of Viggo murdering those close to me.
Leo turned back toward the stove, chuckling to himself. “And don’t forget, you weren’t the only one tricked. I’ll bet Viggo and Mortimer are feeling quite foolish right about now.”
I propped myself up on my elbows. “Why’d you do it?”
The light from the fire burning in the wood stove coupled with a candle on the side table provided enough light to observe the old man’s profile, brows puckered as he frowned, deep in thought. “I was in Sofie’s debt.”
Shock widened my eyes. “She forced you?”
Leo’s head whipped back toward me. “Oh no!” he said, his voice suddenly passionate. “Not in the least. I wanted to help her.” With a sigh, he bent forward to ease another log into the fire. “Sofie gave me back my wife.”
A small gasp escaped my sagging jaw.
“Oh, don’t be so shocked! Did you think I was born in a three-piece suit?” he exclaimed, straightening the red and orange argyle sweater vest he had donned, a contrast from the formal clothing he’d worn in Manhattan as Viggo’s butler.
Leo . . . in another life? Married? It was reasonable, yet I couldn’t picture it. Swallowing my shock, I asked, “How did Sofie . . . give you back your wife?”
He smiled. “One winter, my wife—Maeve—started having difficulty breathing. To this day, I don’t know what caused it. A weak heart, perhaps. Being what I am, I tried healing her, but I couldn’t. I tried every spell in the book. I begged every sorcerer I knew, who tried every spell in their repertoire. Nothing. No one could fix her. Not with normal magic, anyway.” He leaned back in his chair. “A friend of mine suggested I ask the Fates.”
The Fates. I remembered Sofie mentioning these Fates. “Isn’t that what Sofie did for my spell?”
Leo’s head bobbed up and down, his brow furrowing. “Dangerous and powerful stuff, that type of magic. It can be deadly. Few sorcerers will even attempt a Causal Enchantment. Most don’t have enough magic in them to call on them, even if they’re brave enough. I don’t, that’s for certain.” A wrinkled index finger rose to wag in the air. “But there was one, it seemed, a powerful and fearless French sorceress who had turned herself eighty years earlier using a Causal Enchantment for the love of a vampire, only to accidentally kill him. I had heard about her; she was a fable by that point, really. No one knew if she still lived. Most thought she had met her demise by fire, or something equally poetic. If she did exist, she had dropped off the grid completely.
“I was desperate. I had to find her, had to see what she could do that no one else could. And so I searched. I researched every French sorcery guild tree; I picked the brains of every elderly witch still alive. And I finally found a name: Sofie Girard.”
“Girard,” I repeated softly. Of course Sofie had a last name!
He nodded. “Once I had her name, I used a type of spell called a ‘broadcast spell’ to seek her out. I’ll explain that another time.” He waved away my perplexed look. “Maeve was so weak by this point, her breathing ragged. I didn’t expect her to last another week.” Leo paused and swallowed heavily.
“The morning after I sent the broadcast out, I walked into our little kitchen in Dublin to find this stunning red-haired woman perched on the counter.” He chuckled. “At first I thought she was going to strike me dead for seeking her out—those pale green eyes seemed to dissect me.” Leo leaned forward until he perched on the edge of his chair, suddenly animated as he relived the memory. “But she pushed past me without a word and walked over to the couch where my wife lay, wheezing terribly and barely conscious by now. Sofie leaned forward, close to my wife’s face. I didn’t know what to expect. I was afraid she would do what I couldn’t—end my wife’s suffering. Or worse, turn her! Of course, I didn’t know about the venom problem, that her venom couldn’t turn a human.” A wistful smile touched Leo’s lips.
“But she did no such thing. For two days straight, Sofie sat beside Maeve, holding her hand. I could feel her magic in the house. Such awesome, unparalleled strength that woman has. She is a true rarity in the sorcery world. I sat in the chair next to them, watching. I didn’t utter a single word. For two days straight, I sat there, until I finally passed out from exhaustion.” Leo leaned back into his chair. “When I awoke, Maeve was sitting next to me with rosy cheeks and vibrant eyes. Sofie was gone.”
My heart swelled with relief. “So Maeve’s okay? Where is she now?”
Leo smiled sadly. “She’s been gone twenty years now, Evangeline. That’s the downside of marrying an older woman.” He chuckled. “Maeve was nineteen years my senior. When I was a spry fifty-five-year-older, she was in her mid-seventies. Old age took her. But thanks to Sofie, I had thirty wonderful years with her.”
“So then what happened?” I felt my eye brow quirk with doubt. “How’d you end up as Viggo’s British butler?”
“Well . . . ” Leo slowly eased out of his chair. He walked over to gaze out a window, his arms crossed over his chest. “When Maeve died, I was lost. Figured I’d just let myself waste away until I could join her. And then one day about fifteen years ago, Sofie contacted me using a communication spell. It seems the sly woman had kept tabs on me and knew I was widowed.” He laughed, shaking his head. “She asked about my British acting skills and my ability to mask my powers. Intrigued and willing to repay her in any way I could, I followed her instructions. I moved to England under an assumed name and fraudulent credentials. I published an advertisement for a job in New York City, and I learned a disguising spell to hide my Irish accent, to create the illusion of a perfect gentleman’s man. It didn’t take long for Viggo to find me. His last butler met an untimely death.” Leo grimaced. “Or timely, for Sofie’s sake.”
I shuddered, hoping Sofie had nothing to do with it but not feeling overly confident.
“I entered their home just after Viggo killed your mother.”
That stabbed at my heart. Since learning the truth of my mother’s death—that Viggo had murdered her—I could not think about my mother without seeing the haunting image Max had shown me of Viggo leaning over her broken body. It was etched in my mind, just as Caden’s bloody eyes now were. A giant wet nose nuzzled against my ear. Max, comforting me. I gave his head an affectionate scratch.
Leo continued. “At first I knew nothing about you, about the spell, or the venom issue. But slowly, as Sofie learned to trust me, as I began feeding her bits of information and described strange happenings that I heard of with my ear to the ground, she confided in me.” He gave me a gentle smile that pulled at the wrinkled skin around his mouth. “By the time you stepped out of Viggo’s private jet, I knew you quite well.” Returning his gaze to the window, he paused, his mind drifting. “Maeve and I were never able to have children. She was in her forties when we married. We tried, but it never took.” Just as quickly, he drifted back into our conversation. “Planting me in there was brilliant on Sofie’s part. Unfortunately I knew nothing about Ursula. Viggo kept that one close to his unbeating heart.”
“I don’t know how Sofie keeps up with all these schemes of hers,” I muttered, feeling a twinge of envy over her brilliance. “I mean . . . this place!” I wished I had a hundredth of her cunning. She had designed an escape route for every escape route of every situation, even the most wild and unplanned.
Leo’s arms unfolded to punctuate his words with movement. “Oh, you don’t know the half of it! The cost and complexity of building this place up here? Creating a fully self-sufficient cabin on undiscovered land? It has taken ten years and countless helicopter crews. She compelled every single builder, supplier, bookkeeper—anyone at all—so as not to risk a trail here for Viggo or Mortimer to follow. There is nothing that woman hasn’t thought of regarding your safety, I can promise you that.” His declaration allowed me a large sigh of relief; I had a maternal vampiress watching over me.
But then those pulsating red eyes pushed into my memory and my chest tightened. “Leo, will my friends ever be normal again?”
Leo approached slowly and stopped next to my bed. “They were never normal, Evangeline. They’re vampires.” He paused. “I could help you forget them, if you wanted. But my magic isn’t like a vampire’s compulsion. I wouldn’t be able to isolate specifics. I’d likely wipe out the past month completely. You might not even remember them.”
“No!” I exclaimed, more a shout in the dead silence of the night. Not remember them? Forget the angelic ring of Amelie’s giggles? Forget the shivers that ran through my body every time Caden gazed in my direction? Forget that all-consuming warmth of love? Never. I modulated my voice. “No, that’s okay. I don’t want to forget what’s happened.”
Leo smiled. “That’s good, because I might accidentally lobotomize you.” He placed his hand on my forehead and said somberly, “You need your rest, Evangeline.”
I groaned. “I’m trying, but I can’t. Every time I close my eyes, I see . . . ” My words became garbled as a feeling of calm and peace washed over me; my eyelids became too heavy to keep open.
“Go to sleep now, my dear girl,” Leo murmured distantly, following that with a low chant. He was casting a spell, I realized. I didn’t care; the sound of his voice welcomed, soothed. I felt the lightest peck on my forehead just before I drifted off, meadows and children’s laughter replacing the image of Caden’s burning eyes.
A gray and white marble hallway stretched ahead of me, illuminated by wall sconces that flickered repeatedly, as if touched by a power surge. It looked like the hallway outside my room in Viggo and Mortimer’s home, only different. Was it wider? Longer? I stepped forward and teetered, then looked down at heeled shoes, three inches high, peeking from beneath the silky folds of a jade green evening gown. It was the same outfit I’d worn on the night of my eighteenth birthday. Instinct pulled my head to look over my shoulder for Max, but he was nowhere in sight. I was completely alone—an oddity within these walls, where there always seemed to be eyes on me.
And then it hit me: I’m dreaming. All suddenly became clear. This had already happened. I had already lived this.
What should I do?The atrium. Maybe I’ll find Sofie there. I walked slowly toward the stairs at the end of the hall, reveling in the feel of my gown, the odd sense of relaxation whirling around me. I hadn’t felt this peaceful since my birthday.
Suddenly the stairs disappeared and the hallway stretched out ahead for miles with no end in sight. A surge of anxiety replaced the warm, tranquil feeling; I was late for something, I was sure of it, but I had no idea what. I picked up my pace, rushing down the hall, hoping that the stairs would reappear. But the hall kept stretching farther and farther ahead of me. Finally I kicked off my shoes, hiked up my dress, and ran. My breathing became labored, the need to get to those stairs—to my destination—crushing.
As suddenly as the top of the staircase had vanished, it rematerialized. I skidded to a halt before I tumbled down the steep flight. I was no longer alone. They were there, climbing up the steps, broad smiles on their faces, Amelie’s blonde curls bobbing, Fiona and Bishop hand in hand. Just as I remembered them. They were dressed as finely as I, the girls in matching dresses but different colors—Amelie in crimson and Fiona in violet to compliment her sparkling purple-tinged eyes. Bishop stepped forward in a dashing silver suit.
I grinned. They grinned back as they glided up the stairs toward me, parting before they reached me to stand on either side. And then my breath caught as I glimpsed a mass of chestnut brown hair. Caden ascended the stairs behind them, wearing a custom-tailored black suit like those Viggo and Mortimer wore. He lifted his head and his beautiful jade eyes bored into me, sucking the air out of my lungs. My shoulders slouched with relief. I was where I needed to be. I had made it.
Caden stepped onto the landing and held out his hand. I moved forward and took it, then poured myself into his arms, into his embrace. “It worked,” he whispered in my ear, the words tickling my skin, sending shivers through to my fingertips.
I reveled in the feel of his chest against my cheek for a long moment, inhaling the intoxicating scent I had come to realize was Caden. Finally I pulled back far enough to gaze into his eyes as I curled my arms around his neck. They were just as I had remembered, so vibrantly bluish-green, so unhuman.
“I told you it would. You just needed to believe in yourself.” He smiled, lifting a hand to hold my chin before leaning forward to press his mouth over mine in a soft kiss. When he broke away, he whispered, “And now we can be together forever.”
“Forever?” Forever, with Caden. An impossibility before, but now it couldn’t happen soon enough. “When?”
His smile turned my legs to water. “Why not now?”
Something started to burn against my chest. Caden’s brow furrowed with confusion as he gazed down. I followed his eyes to the black heart pendant around my neck—the catalyst for my curse—alive with fiery red and orange swirls that danced as they had on Ratheus, when they worked to protect me. When they’d stopped me from being transformed. My stomach tightened with the sickly realization that I couldn’t have what I wanted. That I couldn’t be with him. Not yet, anyway. How would I explain it to him? Would he wait for me? A renewed sense of panic washed over me. Hesitantly, I looked up . . .
Into the pulsating, blood-red eyes of a thirsty vampire. The same eyes that I had met in the atrium, moments after arriving back with Caden. The same eyes that had poisoned all of my memories. I stumbled backward, gasping for air, terror ripping through me as I tried to distance myself.
“Join us,” Amelie’s playful voice whispered in my ear. Spinning around, I saw the others closing in on me from all sides, their eyes full of that same hunger. For me. My blood.
“I can’t yet!” I shrieked. They would kill me before Sofie reversed this curse! I had to get away, to save myself. I stumbled into a run, barely able to stay on my feet.
“Join us,” they whispered, trailing me. “Join us now or die.”
I screamed . . .
And bolted upright in bed, the sound of my scream ringing in my ears as it bounced off the wood-paneled walls of my tiny room. I was back in the cabin I’d been exiled to until Caden could control his thirst for blood. Pulling the duvet up around my chin, I focused on my breathing to slow my heart; it was thumping so furiously in my chest, I thought it might explode.
Bad dream? A concerned voice asked. I turned wide eyes on Max, now standing next to my bed. This was all too familiar.
My hands flew to the werebeast’s neck, seizing fistfuls of shiny black fur. “Please tell me it was just a nightmare, Max. It wasn’t real, right? Please!” I begged, my breathing still ragged, my throat burning as I sucked in icy air.
It was just a bad dream, he reassured me somberly. I’ve been by your side all night.
I exhaled noisily, flopping back into my pillows. “Oh, thank God.”
His deep chuckle filled my head. You’ll never have a regular bad dream again without thinking it’s real, will you?
Reaching up, I fumbled with the black heart pendant. “Not while this blasted thing is around my neck.” The gift from Sofie was my death sentence if Viggo or Mortimer got hold of me. I lay quietly, replaying the nightmare in my head. As horrific as it was, it had allowed me a glimpse into the recesses of my mind, into my memories of Caden. Memories of what I loved. I needed to hold that in a death grip. If it meant reliving the aftermath, I would do it over and over again, night after night, I realized. But how many times would I wake up to the same inevitable end? How long would I need to torture myself with that fear before I could put it past me?
Staring up at the ceiling, I noticed the cloud billowing above me as my hot breath condensed in the room’s frigid air. I shuddered, pulling the heavy duvet up around my neck to ward off the cold. “Why couldn’t Sofie send us somewhere tropical?” I grumbled.
Max’s deep laughter rumbled inside my head again as he climbed up onto my bed. The bed creaked as if threatening to collapse under his weight, but he didn’t seem bothered as he flopped down to take up three-quarters of the mattress and share his body heat.
“So glad I amuse you,” I said, pushing myself up to sit cocooned within my covers and scan the tiny room, now bathed in wan morning light. A cedar wardrobe sat in one corner and a matching chest of drawers in another, next to the wing chair that Leo had occupied earlier. A simple room, sparsely furnished. Except for the artwork, I thought, focusing on an oil painting hanging on the wall opposite me. A little blonde girl sat on a swing with two young women, one blonde, the other a redhead, standing to either side behind her, as if both were pushing her. The minty green eyes caught my attention immediately. Sofie. Swinging my eyes to the other woman, I recognized the face of my mother. There was no doubt. “Sofie painted that?” I asked Max, my eyes locked on the portrait.
Yup. And that one.
His muzzle swung to the wall directly behind me and I followed it to another oil portrait of two women, standing side by side. I recognized the one on the left as me as I was now, an adult. It could be a mirror image, Sofie’s depiction was so accurate. The woman on the right was my mother. Seeing us side by side, I now saw my uncanny resemblance to her. It was shocking, how similar we looked, though I had never realized it before. “How many more of these paintings are there, Max?” I asked in awe, my focus sliding back and forth between the two faces.
He chuckled. Think of it as a parent putting up framed pictures of her child.
I guessed the answer was “a lot.” A shiver ran down my spine, the idea that I had unwittingly modeled as a vampire sorceress’s muse for the past eighteen years unsettling.
Her favorite place to watch over you was at the park.
A second shiver ran down my spine. Watch over me. That was Sofie. And Max. Both of them had shadowed me my entire life without my knowledge, watching a child as any parent with severe obsessive tendencies would. “Will she always be there?” I asked aloud.
Until you’re out of danger. And even then, the ties will be tight until . . . the end.
“The end,” I repeated softly, catching the certainty in Max’s voice. It wasn’t a question of if, but of when. I turned to regard Max’s golden eyes, too perceptive for any canine. There was sadness in them. “When is ‘the end’ for me, Max?”
Silence filled the room as Max shut his eyes. I will protect you from vampires and witches with every fiber of my body. But I can’t protect you from the curse of humans. The curse of expiration.
“You mean just plain getting old?” I said, smiling softly.
Max grunted in assent.
Join me or die. Their whispers suddenly swirled inside my head. I had forgotten until now. I swallowed, then heard myself say aloud, “Not if I become one of them.” A bizarre form of hope blossomed inside me. Why shouldn’t it? Why would I stay human? There was nothing left to cling to in my human life. I could be one of them and be safe, be with Caden and the others forever. If I joined them, Sofie and Max wouldn’t need to watch over me. I would become the predator. I wouldn’t need to be protected from anyone, including Caden.
I hadn’t given it a thought since the first time I’d questioned Sofie about it, weeks earlier. At the time it was hopeless, because the pendant’s magic wouldn’t allow my conversion. But maybe now . . .
As long as that black heart hangs around your neck, your soul is still entwined with Veronique’s, Max confirmed.
“Of course.” I touched the pendant again, running my thumb over its smooth surface. Somehow I had known that would be the answer. My dream had all but told me. This, the pendant that Sofie couldn’t figure out how to remove, the noose around my neck, ruling my actions, confining me, cursing me, was a prize to everyone else, something desirable, something to kill for. The urge to yank the stupid thing off suddenly overwhelmed me. I needed it off if I wanted any hope for a life—human or vampire.
Max must have read the despair in my face because he quickly added, If anyone can figure out how to get it off, Sofie can. He finished with a reassuring bump against my shoulder. It didn’t help.
The bed creaked in loud relief as Max slid off. You should eat. He strode over to the door and used his mouth to pull the lever handle down. The door swung open.
I glanced at the clock on the nightstand. Nine-thirty. I hadn’t eaten in . . . forever, it seemed. Beside the clock lay my stack of four by six photos of my friends that Sofie had developed for me—the only thing I had to hold onto, now that my memories were infiltrated with demon-red eyes. I gingerly collected the pictures and slid out of bed, shuddering again as the cool air enveloped my body. I quickly wrapped myself in the plush white velour robe that hung on the bedpost at the bottom of the bed, and slid my feet into the matching slippers.
Max led me out into the hallway and past six closed bedroom doors on the way to the stairs. Not a cough or a whisper came from any of them. It was eerily silent for a cabin containing this many people. We stepped from the dimly lit staircase into the great room, now warmed by sunshine streaming in from various vast windows and a skylight tucked between the thick wood beams supporting a cathedral ceiling.
This way, Max called, heading past the rustic dining table toward the back of the room, where I could hear pots and pans clanking together. I rounded the corner and stepped into the delicious, earthy aroma of a rich soup stock.
“Good morning!” Leo sat at a small table with a cup of coffee in one hand and a wildlife magazine in the other. Relaxing in the wooden chair with his legs crossed, wearing a red and black plaid shirt, he looked completely at ease. A night’s sleep had faded the dark circles under his eyes. “Coffee?” he offered, sliding a full mug my way before I could answer.
I smiled and nodded, letting my eyes rove the kitchen. All the luxuries of Viggo and Mortimer’s urban kitchen were there—the cappuccino maker, the industrial gas stove and grill, a large refrigerator—but the string of garlic cloves hanging from a nail in the wall and the butcher block counter cluttered with bottles and jars of various spices and oils gave it a rustic air.
Magda and two other staffers hovered over various pots on the stove, the source of that delicious smell, no doubt. I found it remarkable that these women, magically wrenched from their accustomed environment yesterday and exiled into these mountains, continued with their daily duties as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. I wondered if they had any clue what was going on. Either way, they didn’t seem bothered. “We have twelve hungry mouths to feed up here,” Leo exclaimed as if reading my mind. “Go on, take a seat.” He pushed a chair out with one foot. “Did you sleep well?”
“For the most part. Thanks for . . . whatever you did.”
He winked at me, then returned his attention to his magazine. I glanced at the giant brown grizzly on the cover. The image stirred memories of Big Brown and a wave of sadness washed over me. Big Brown had been Bishop’s ferocious pet, created to serve as my protector. The evil Council leader, Mage, had killed him when she entrapped Caden. “I guess we don’t get regular mail deliveries here?” I said, noting the issue’s publication date—1992. Not exactly current.
Leo chuckled. “No. I suppose we don’t.” He sipped his coffee, eyeing me over the rim of his mug.
I studied the cover some more, noting the subhead Locate the world’s remaining grizzly population. “So,” I asked, “are there any grizzlies in these mountains?”
Leo’s eyebrows arched. “Hoping for a clue as to where we are?”
“No . . . ” Yes.
“Hmm. You know there’s a map in here, indicating where the world’s grizzlies exist. They’re in only a few locations around the world. So if I told you there were grizzlies here, you could quickly deduce where we are, right?”
Don’t try to outsmart him. He’s a wily old man, Max warned from his spot behind me.
“Yes, I’ve noticed,” I grumbled, pouring a heaping teaspoon of sugar into my coffee.
Leo exploded in laughter, his eyes shifting between Max and me. He must have caught the gist of our secret conversation. After a moment I couldn’t help giggling as well, caught in Leo’s infectious spirit. He put the magazine down. “How do eggs and bacon sound?”
I nodded eagerly. “Yummy.”
As if waiting for the signal, Magda abandoned the wooden ladle in her pot and grabbed a frying pan from the hanging rack. In seconds, she had two eggs sizzling.
Hands hugging my coffee mug, I rose from my chair and wandered over to a giant window that displayed a mountain view both breathtaking and daunting. The valleys and sea of trees below us told me we were at a high altitude, yet distant mountains towered over us. Spying a frosted thermometer to one side of the window I leaned in, and found the mercury buried at the minus sixty degree Fahrenheit mark. I shivered reflexively.
“Sit!” Magda instructed in her brusque accent. A plate thumped down on the table behind me. “Your food is ready.”
“Thank you.” I smiled at her as I headed back to the table.
Her head bobbed once, the only indication that she’d heard me. She moved immediately to another task, tossing a cutting board’s worth of chopped potatoes into a pot of simmering water.
I devoured breakfast, using my toast to sop up the yolk from my eggs and accepting a second helping of bacon. I noticed Leo watching from the corner of his eye while pretending to read his magazine, an amused but relieved smirk on his face.
“Good! I’m glad I don’t have to worry about you being too miserable to eat,” he commented as I set my fork down, finished.
I smiled, gathered my dishes, and carried them to the sink. Magda’s helper, a middle-aged, mousy woman named Martha, politely shooed me away, whisking the dishes out of my hand before I had a chance to wash them.
“They are working for you now, per Sofie’s instructions,” Leo explained.
“Oh.” I smiled at Magda, whose eyes flicked to me before refocusing on her pot. I felt my cheeks burn, and wondered what they thought of me. I didn’t need servants, but I knew refusing was out of the question, so I didn’t bother. I turned to Leo. “Okay, what now?” What did a person do to kill time when they were exiled in the wilderness?
“Relax! Enjoy life,” Leo murmured, waving his hand dismissively toward the great room. “There’re plenty of books to read.”
Taking the hint, I left the kitchen’s delicious aroma, my giant werebeast in tow, as usual. “Don’t you need to eat?” I asked over my shoulder.
I’m ready to gnaw someone’s arm off but I’ll go later, when the others get back. We go in shifts so someone’s always around here, he explained.
“Why? It’s not like anyone’s going to find us.”
Stranger things have happened.
“I guess.” Like talking telepathically to a werebeast who’d decided to switch masters. Or being cursed and sent to another world. Or falling madly in love with a vampire who then tried to kill me. My life was all about the strange.
I rounded the corner to find a dark-haired guy standing and staring out a window, a small hardcover book in his hand. Julian. He half turned at the sound of my footsteps.
Speaking of gnawing on arms, Max muttered.
“Good morning,” I said cheerily, ignoring my hungry werebeast’s subtle threat. Suddenly conscious of my fuzzy pink pajamas, I pulled the ties of my robe tighter.
There was no need. Julian turned back to gaze out the window without a word, leaving me to stare at the back of his raven-haired head. Not surprising. The young Colombian had yet to show a side that challenged Sofie’s derogatory opinion of him. He and his sister, Valentina, were part of Viggo and Mortimer’s beard family—a cover for their existence and their lavish home on Fifth Avenue. I had practically begged that they be protected from Viggo’s deadly grip, the only reason Sofie hadn’t left them in that death trap.
I wouldn’t waste my energy on that one, Max said.
I sighed and walked over to scan titles on the bookshelf beside the fireplace, obedient to Leo’s instruction to relax. I noticed that one shelf housed every single one of my favorite novels, and a small metal sign posted on the shelf identified them as Evangeline’s Picks. I smiled. The other shelves were full of unfamiliar titles, surely chosen by Sofie for that very reason.
I grabbed a book with a plum cover and took a step back, only to bump into Max, who had edged up behind me. “Max!” I whispered in exasperation, turning to see the dog eyeing Julian. I followed his gaze to find Julian’s attention on us. On me. Our eyes locked. It was the first time I had ever looked at him dead on. Sofie was right—he was really good-looking in that tall, dark, and Latin way. For a second I thought he would speak. But then his brow knitted into a scowl and he turned back to gaze out at the snow, leaving me staring awkwardly at his back for the second time. Being in exile with him is going to be long and painful. At least Valentina was here. I had only met her the one time, but she seemed nice enough.
My eyes wandered around the room, looking for something else to fix my attention on. They quickly zoned in on three oil paintings on the opposite wall. Yesterday, distracted with my abrupt arrival and the following revelations, I hadn’t noticed the paintings. Now I had time to study them.
Each one depicted a little blonde girl in a different scenario. Me. Me jumping through puddles; me playing with my dolls; me petting a speckled gray Pomeranian. Glancing around the room, I found two more that were very clearly of me. “You weren’t kidding, Max,” I murmured under my breath, waves of shock rippling through my body. I glanced at Max and saw something close to a grin on his muzzle.
Didn’t anyone tell you that vampires can be a tad obsessive?
Sofie was . . . obsessed with me? With a heavy sigh, I headed to a lounge chair beside the stone hearth and pulled my legs up to sit cross-legged. “Relax and enjoy life,” I whispered to myself again, as if repeating Leo’s words enough would somehow make this feel like a vacation. Maybe I’d get to enjoy all two hundred-odd books, given that I’d be “relaxing and enjoying life” in this asylum for years, I thought bitterly as I cracked the cover. The faint new book scent that wafted from its pages soothed me, at least.
After restarting the first page a dozen times, I realized I wouldn’t be putting a dent in my personal reading challenge any time soon. My attention kept drifting to New York . . . How far away was I from Caden? Was it day or night there? What was happening? Had Caden’s feelings for me changed?
“What the—” Julian’s low mutter distracted me from my musings. I quietly shut my book and looked his way. He hadn’t moved from his spot and he was intent on something outside. A moment later the side door opened and Valentina stepped through, her normally olive-colored cheeks glowing a vibrant red and her big brown eyes glassy-looking from the frigid temperatures. She wore nothing to protect her from the elements but mitts, a light sweater, and a pair of boots, the undone laces dragging as she walked.
“Are you insane?” Julian exploded, storming toward his little sister. “What were you doing out there? You could have frozen to death!”
“I went for a quick walk. It’s pleasant out,” Valentina answered excitedly in that high-pitched, childish voice of hers. I felt my eyes widen with shock at the same time that Julian’s did. How anyone without a balaclava and a fur-lined body suit could ever call minus sixty degrees “pleasant” was beyond my understanding.
“I have to agree, Valentina,” Leo said sternly in his Irish brogue as he entered the room. “Only an idiot goes out in these temperatures without good reason. Don’t leave this cabin again without being properly dressed, and only with someone’s knowledge.”
Valentina turned to regard Leo, her bright eyes narrowing ever so slightly with displeasure before they relaxed. “Okay,” she agreed, smiling sweetly. If Leo’s severe reprimand ruffled her, I couldn’t tell.
“Why would you . . . ” Julian’s voice drifted off and he shook his head at his foolish sister one last time before turning to Leo, his expression wary. He opened his mouth to speak, but hesitated. “Do you know what happened to our parents?” he finally asked, his tone more respectful than yesterday’s. Leo’s blunt threat must have forced him to check his cockiness.
The wrinkles in Leo’s heavily creased forehead deepened. He nodded. “That’s why I came in here.” He paused. “Unfortunately, your parents didn’t survive. There were just too many . . . of them to control.”
“Too many?” Julian repeated, confusion in his eyes.
He hadn’t seen the horde of Ratheus vampires appear, I realized. He had been inside. The guy really had no idea what had happened.
“They died quickly, if that’s any consolation. I’m sorry.” Contrasted with his callousness the day before, Leo’s soft tone indicated authenticity. I noticed he wouldn’t use the term “vampires,” though everyone in the room knew exactly what they were.
I hazarded a glance at Julian to see hollow shock in the eyes that stared back at Leo. Instantly, I pitied him. I knew what he was feeling. It had consumed me only five years ago, the night I received news of my mother’s death. He was now an orphan. At least he still had his sister . . .
Julian’s brown eyes slowly slid first to the dogs, then to me. The muscles in his jaw tightened. “How are you involved in this?” he asked, barely above a whisper.
Max was instantly between us, his lips curling back to expose razor-sharp teeth. He snarled a warning.
“Calm down, Max,” I said sharply.
There was no need. Max’s ferocity—normally enough to make anyone wary—went unnoticed. Julian continued to stare at me with haunted eyes. When he spoke again, it was more to himself than anyone else. “They will all die. Every last one of them.” With that he stormed off, his words a swift kick to my stomach.
Movement beside me drew my eye. Valentina peeled off her sweater and tossed it haphazardly over a chair as she walked over to the couch nearest to me. She seemed surprisingly . . . fine.
I hesitated. “Are you okay?” I asked as gently as possible, moving to sit beside her. I hadn’t spoken to her since the day I helped her up from the cobblestones after her fainting spell.
Confusion flashed in her bright doe eyes while she worked to comprehend my meaning. “Oh! You mean because of my parents? Yeah, I’m fine. I figured they were dead.”
A small sound escaped me and my jaw dropped. Had I heard her wrong? She must have realized how callous she sounded, because she quickly added, “I was so sad last night that I cried myself to sleep. It’s out of my system now.” Her tone held zero sincerity. How could anyone be over their parents’ deaths in a night? Shock! That’s how! I finally realized. That was the only explanation.
I glanced over at Leo; he wore a perplexed frown. Good; it wasn’t just me who found the entire exchange strange. Shaking his head, he walked back toward the kitchen, muttering under his breath. I thought I caught the word “fool,” but I couldn’t be sure.
She’s not right in the head, Max mumbled. And she smells . . . off.
I shot a disapproving look at the giant dog. Of course she wasn’t right in the head. She’d just found out both her parents were murdered by vampires!
With a heavy groan, Max dropped to the ground in front of the fireplace and closed his eyes. I knew he was still listening intently.
“What’re you reading?” Valentina asked, eyeing the book I still clutched. Before I could answer, she spied the deck of photos sitting on the coffee table. A picture of Caden sat on top. “Oh. He’s hot!” She reached over to grab the photo. The sleeve of her black shirt slid up, revealing what looked like a fresh burn on her forearm.
“What happened?” I exclaimed, wincing as I leaned in to inspect the wound, at least four inches long and two inches wide. A large red X was branded in the center.
She quickly pushed her sleeve back down, mumbling, “I got too close to the wood stove.”
I winced again. “Do you want Leo to look at it? I’m sure he could help you.” I started to rise, ready to fetch the warlock for his magical healing powers.
“No, I’m fine!” She vigorously waved Caden’s picture in front of my face, forcing my focus away from her arm. “Who’s he?”
I smiled shyly. “That’s Caden.”
“Is he a vampire?”
I hesitated, then nodded.
“He’s really good-looking. Does he have a girlfriend?”
“Um . . . ” Yeah, me. Except he tried to kill me. Inconsequential point, really. What was he to me now? A boyfriend-in-waiting with a bad habit he needed to kick before he could be anywhere near me? How pathetic. I felt my cheeks flush.
“Oh . . . ” She smiled knowingly. “Too bad for me.” She leaned back on the couch, crossing her arms behind her head. Her wound didn’t seem to bother her and she certainly wasn’t acting like she’d just found out her parents had been murdered, even if shock was numbing her reaction. She seemed . . . triumphant.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” I asked again.
“Yup! Hey, do you know why we’re here?” Valentina shifted in her seat. “I’m assuming that witch, Sofie, is involved, but I have no idea why.” I heard bitterness as Sofie’s name touched her lips, but it was so brief that I barely noticed it.
I grimaced. “Because of me.”
Valentina’s thin, perfectly-shaped eyebrow arched.
“I’m so sorry,” I blurted under a wave of guilt. “It’s my fault you’re here and that your parents are dead. I was supposed to bring a vampire back for Viggo and Mortimer so they could—”
Hey! Max’s sharp warning cut my words short. Don’t tell her a thing!
I turned to regard the paranoid werebeast. “Seriously, Max, who’s she going to tell out here?”
She’s on a need-to-know basis and she doesn’t need to know.
When I turned back, Valentina’s eyes looked as if they were about to pop out of their sockets. I realized what I must look like to her. “I’m not crazy! I really can talk to him,” I said.
“How? I mean, I knew he wasn’t normal but . . . ” she whispered, looking at the dog with a mixture of intrigue and concern.
Look who’s talking, Max grumbled sarcastically.
“Telepathically. Well, only one way. I can hear him in my head but he can’t hear me. I haven’t figured it out yet. Anyway, no one can explain it. It just happened.”
“But, you’re . . . human, right?” She continued in a whisper, her brown eyes still wide.
“Yes.” I added with a chuckle, “At least I think so.”
“Wow. That’s the coolest thing!” she exclaimed. “Does he have any other special powers? Is he magical?”
“I don’t know if magical is the right word for him. But he does regenerate like a human vampire and he doesn’t age.”
Okay. Enough about me, Max interjected.
“What’s he saying now?” she asked eagerly. “What has he said about me?”
Max’s deep, sarcastic chuckle boomed in my head.
“Umm . . . ” I squirmed, searching for a lie. “He thinks you’re really nice.”
And brainless. Don’t forget brainless, Max added.
I ignored him. He wasn’t normally this rude. He must be really hungry.
“Aw. That’s so sweet.” She leapt off the couch and skipped over to pat Max’s head, earning a disapproving grunt. “What’s he’s saying now?”
“Nothing. He’s purring like a kitten,” I answered, cutting off the voice in my head and grinning at the big beast. I stood, afraid I’d have to use my body as a shield for Valentina any second. But Max clambered to his feet and walked to the opposite corner of the giant room to gaze out the window.
“So,” Valentina continued, “you were saying this is your fault?”
“Oh, yeah.” I hesitated at another sharp warning from Max. “I made a mistake and we were in danger. Sofie saved us.”
“But why’d she send us here?”
“Because I have something Viggo and Mortimer want and I can’t give it to them yet.”
“What is it?” Her brown eyes widened with excitement.
“I . . . ” I hesitated, glancing over at Max, who watched us intently. Do not tell her. The less people who know, the better. Please. I couldn’t miss the pleading in Max’s voice now. I decided to listen to him. “I . . . um . . . can’t say. Sorry.”
She sighed. “That’s okay.” But she sounded disappointed. As if deciding to probe from a different angle, she asked, “What do they need with the thing you have?”
“My, you ask a lot of questions,” Leo interrupted as he strode back in to the great room. “More than Evangeline, and I didn’t think that was possible.”
My thoughts exactly, Max called from his corner.
Valentina gave Leo a tight-lipped smile.
“Why don’t you go check on your brother? At least one of you is suffering appropriately,” he suggested.
What is wrong with these two? I shot Leo a disapproving frown. Valentina had just found out her parents were dead. They could show a little more compassion.
“I’m sure he’s fine. I’m going to take a nap.” With that, Valentina took off, leaving me gaping at her slender back as she climbed the stairs.
“People sure deal with shock in different ways, don’t they,” I murmured absently.
“I’m beginning to think it would have been wiser to leave them with their parents in New York,” Leo muttered, settling in one of the armchairs across from me.
At the mention of New York, something suddenly clicked. News of their parents’ death and the guilt I felt for my part in it had distracted me—until now. “Wait a minute.” My exclamation drew Leo’s gray hawk eyes to me. “How did you know his parents were dead?”
Leo’s lips twisted into a smile. “I was wondering how long your curious mind would take to pick up on that.” He chuckled. “Remember the communication spells I told you about?”
I nodded, dropping back into my chair.
“Well . . . ?” Leo lifted an eyebrow and waited.
When I finally put two and two together, I gasped. “You’ve talked to Sofie!” I lunged forward and grabbed his withered hands. “What’s happening out there? Is Caden alive? Is he mad at me?”
Leo gave me a reproachful glare. “Why on Earth would he be mad at you? Give your head a shake, silly girl.”
I averted sheepish eyes. “Because I told him it would be fine, and it wasn’t. Worse, I think he actually believed me.” I looked back up into Leo’s eyes, now full of pity. “Are they okay?”
The old man squeezed my hands. “Yes. They are fine. Struggling, as is expected, but still alive . . . so to speak.”
“Have they . . . ” I struggled to move my next words past a painful lump in my throat.
Leo continued softly, “They’re doing whatever they need to, in order to survive. Let’s leave it at that.” He released my hand and patted my head, accompanying that with a sympathetic smile. Then he leaned back in his chair, pulled the wilderness magazine out from under his arm, and flipped it open, clearly signaling the end of the conversation.
Accepting that, I opened my own book, but savored a small burst of joy at the news that Caden and the others were still alive, that Viggo and Mortimer hadn’t killed Sofie. They’re doing whatever they need to, in order to survive, Leo had said. That meant drinking blood. But whose blood? Aside from Julian and Valentina’s parents, of course. I shuddered at the vivid images that conjured. My choices, my needs, had left Julian and Valentina orphans. And what about Rachel? Was she still hog-tied by Merth, or roaming free? Free to murder my friends or Sofie, as soon as her psychopathic mind decided it was a good idea . . . Those lemon-yellow eyes flashed in my mind. My stomach tightened at the memory of her clawing at Caden, back when she believed they were a couple. Caden had told me she was the most dangerous vampire I’d ever meet. And now I had brought her to Earth, to leave plenty more orphans in her wake.
“Oh, muffins!” Leo exclaimed with over-exaggerated glee, yanking me from my fretting. My nose caught a delicious scent as Magda slid a tray of freshly baked muffins onto the dining room table, and I realized he was being literal. “Come, Evangeline. You must be starving.”
“Not really,” I mumbled.
He jumped up and, grabbing my hand, pulled me toward the mountain of warm, soft treats—no doubt hoping to distract me. Leo didn’t wait for me to choose one; he handed me a chocolate chip muffin with a wink, knowing full-well it was my favorite kind. That same odd mixture of creepiness and flattery raised my short hairs. They’d catalogued my every like and dislike.
I wasn’t hungry, but I knew who might be. Impulsively, I grabbed another and a bottle of water and headed to the staircase, certain that my peace offering would do little to alleviate the pain that I had caused, but needing to do it all the same.
“I wouldn’t, if I were you . . . ” Leo called, finishing with a cluck of disapproval.
I turned to answer him and jumped, startled, as a canine face appeared immediately behind me. Max, already on my heels. “I was just going to get changed.”
“Sure you were.” Leo smirked, shaking his head as he took a bite of his own muffin.
Max’s razor-sharp claws clicked against the hardwood steps as he trailed me up the stairs. I breathed in the mingled scent of cedar and muffins. Under normal circumstances I would find the aroma comforting but now, as I headed toward the one person under this roof whom I should avoid—whom I’d been told to stay away from—my stomach churned.
None of this was your fault, you know, Max said.
“I know,” I lied, then added, “He’s just lost his parents, Max. No one should be alone.” Perhaps I’d be proven wrong soon enough.
Don’t expect a nice reception because you’re giving him a muffin, Max continued wryly.
“He can’t be worse than Rachel . . . Which room is his?” I asked, looking down the long hall with three doors on either side and one on the end, which I knew was mine.
With a loud, dramatic sigh, Max answered. Last door on the left.
I walked up to it and, holding my breath, knocked timidly. No answer. I knocked again, this time harder.
“What?” an angry male voice barked from the other side, sending waves of tension through me. I opened my mouth to speak but choked, no clue what to say now that I was here. It was me who brought back the vampires who killed your parents. Here’s a muffin . . .
I warned you, Max sang.
“Back off, Max. You’re crowding me,” I snapped.
The giant dog grudgingly took three steps back but then set his stance, making it clear he wasn’t budging an inch farther.
“And not so much as a snort out of you!” I whispered harshly as heavy footsteps approached on the other side of the door.
The door flew open. “What do you want?” Julian snapped, glaring at me with red-rimmed eyes.
Has he been crying? My heart swelled. So he is capable of normal human emotions. When I didn’t answer, his jaw tightened. He stepped back and moved to slam the door in my face. “Here!” I blurted, thrusting the muffins and water toward him. “I thought you might be hungry,” I added in a rush.
He paused and looked down at my offering, then up at me. Finally he accepted it. “I thought Valentina would bring me something. She usually does . . . ” His voice drifted off and he frowned.
“She was acting really weird earlier,” I agreed. “It’s just shock. She went to rest.”
We stood in awkward silence for a few moments. “I also wanted to make sure you were okay,” I added hesitantly.
Despite my gentle concern, he lashed out at me. “I just found out my parents were murdered.” The glower had returned. “So, no, I’m not alright. But you wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”
“Actually . . . I do.” At least I had one thing in common with the Colombian drug lord’s son. What a terrible thing to have in common.
The stark shock on his face told me he hadn’t expected that answer. My hands, now empty, fidgeted nervously as his eyes bored into me. When he spoke again, the hostile edge had dulled a little. “By them?”
I assumed Viggo could be categorized in the “them” group so I nodded, offering him a small, sympathetic smile. He stared at me in silence for another long, awkward moment. Then he stepped back into his room. I expected the door to slam in my face. Instead, he said, “You can come in, but not with that thing. And shut the door behind you.”
A deep grunt behind me preceded Max’s declaration: You’re not going in there alone.
“Max, I’ll be fine,” I assured him in a whisper. “You need to let go of whatever issues you have with Julian and make peace. We’re going to be in these mountains for a long time.”
After a pause, Max relented. I’m right here, listening. If I hear the smallest threat, I’ll bust this door down and tear his head off.
“That’s very sweet of you, Max,” I murmured sarcastically as I stepped into Julian’s room and shut the door as instructed, much to Max’s annoyance. This room was smaller than mine, but it had the same cedar-paneled walls, slanted ceiling, and chest of drawers in the corner. A small single bed was positioned under the window, with an oil lamp on a simple pine nightstand beside it.
Julian stood about five feet away from me. He placed his food on the chest of drawers, then turned to face me. He began unbuttoning his black and green-checkered shirt.
“What are you doing?” I blurted, averting my eyes.
What’s going on in there? Max called suspiciously; I envisioned the dog’s massive head pressed up against the door.
My embarrassment brought a chuckle to Julian’s lips. So he’s capable of laughing, too.
“Relax,” he said. “You’re not my type. I need to change into that.” He jerked his chin toward the bed.
Still avoiding his bare chest, my eyes darted to a pair of long johns, several layers of warm clothing, gloves, and a balaclava lying on his bed. “Oh, you’re going for . . . a hike?” I asked.
“More like as far away from here as possible,” Julian confirmed, dropping his shirt onto the floor, giving me ample opportunity to see his tanned, lean torso. It didn’t generate the same reaction I’d had when seeing Caden with his shirt off for the first time, but I had to admit, Julian was pretty attractive, even if he was a world-class jerk. He paused to pick up the half-eaten muffin on his nightstand and inhale the rest of it.
“Um . . . ” I began, directing my eyes to the wall behind him, where a painting of a little blonde girl walking down a sidewalk hung. Good God, I’m everywhere! I gave my head a quick shake. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. It’s dangerous out there, in the mountains. I’m pretty sure there are grizzlies,” I added for embellishment.
“Can’t be any more dangerous than staying here with that lunatic butler and those freak mutts.” He leaned over to grab the long john top and began pulling it over his head.
“But we’re a long way away from anyone else.”
“Who told you that, Leo? I don’t buy it. There’s probably a ski lodge on the other side of the ridge. How else would all this stuff get up here?” With his undershirt on, he began pulling on a second layer—a blue wool turtleneck.
“No, there probably isn’t!” I retorted, panicking as I realized that Julian was about to walk to his death for the simple fact that he had no clue what he was a part of. “You don’t know Sofie. We are nowhere near anyone. I guarantee it. She made sure of it. She doesn’t want us to be found!”
“Why?” He turned to look at me.
I faltered. “She . . . has her reasons.”
He reached back to grab a black sweater. “Well, I’m not waiting around to find out what those reasons are.” He added more sarcastically, “They’ll all be lies anyway.”
“But Julian, you have no idea where we are!”
“Yes, that’s exactly my point, Ev—what’s your name again?”
“Evangeline.”
“That’s my point, Evangeline.” He continued to speak as he yanked the sweater over his head. “One minute I’m in Manhattan and the next minute I’m in the mountains in the middle of nowhere, my parents are dead, and no one will tell me a damn thing! Do you know what it’s like to know you’re being lied to?”
I burst out in a laugh before I could control myself. My hand flew to my mouth in an attempt to contain it, and knowing I must look like a complete ass, I glanced shyly his way. He was glowering at me again. “I’m sorry, it’s just . . . I know exactly what it’s like to be lied to by everyone around me.”
Yet again, surprise flashed over Julian’s face. He crossed his arms over his chest. “How are you involved in this?”
Evangeline.
I ignored the warning. “It’s . . . a really long story and I can’t tell you a lot of it.” I saw disappointment flicker in his eyes and the sudden, overpowering urge to confess my contribution to his parents’ death, even if not intentional, took over. At least I could tell him that much. “I’m so sorry about your parents. I didn’t mean to bring all those other vampires home with me. It was just supposed to be my friends.”
“Your friends?” Julian asked slowly, quietly. I nodded before his icy tone registered in my mind. “Your vampire friends?” When I saw his eyes narrow to slits, I knew I had made a mistake. “I thought you might be a hostage . . . but you’re friends with those leeches!” Julian suddenly screamed, his face twisting with rage as he stepped toward me.
I don’t know what his intentions were and I didn’t find out because the door exploded into dozens of splinters and Max barreled through, sending me stumbling to the side before regaining my balance. When I had, I saw Julian pinned against the wall with Max’s nose pressed up against his collarbone. Hackles raised, teeth bared, Max growled so low, he sounded more like a bear than a dog
“Max! Don’t!” I screamed. Max didn’t move away. In fact, I think he may have edged closer. His fangs were inches away from Julian’s throat and I knew he would tear it out at the slightest provocation. I’d seen firsthand what this werebeast was capable of when protecting me. “Max, please don’t!” I pleaded, tears welling in my eyes now. “There’s been enough death because of me. I can’t take any more!”
My words silenced Max immediately. He shuffled back to stand next to me, his eyes never leaving Julian. Not that there was anything to worry about—Julian remained pressed up against the wall as if Max’s fangs still held him there, his face as white as the snow outside.
“Get out,” he finally whispered hoarsely, eyes wide with terror and acutely aware of how close to death he had just come. “Leave me alone. Please.”
I nodded, shoving Max none too gently ahead of me as I bolted out of the room. I scampered down the stairs two at a time.
“Did that make you feel better?” Leo asked when I re-entered the great room; I heard the “I told you so” in his smug tone. He stood in front of the bookshelves, leafing through a new magazine, this one with cheetahs on the cover.
I didn’t answer him at first. I walked stiffly over to the dining table to grab a bottle of water. Only when I tried to unscrew the cap did I realize that my hand was shaking violently. It wasn’t about feeling better, I decided as I took a swig of water. As disturbing as it was to admit to myself, I couldn’t help but feel some sort of connection to Julian. We had so much in common—both lied to and both orphans at the hands of vampires. If there was ever anyone I could feel a kinship with in this world, it would be him. I swallowed my mouthful of water and wiped a dribble from my chin before answering Leo. “His parents were murdered and he’s been thrown into a world he has no clue about. Sound familiar?”
After a long pause, Leo inclined his head in assent and said no more, instead scanning the titles of the magazines on one of the bookshelves.
I slowly walked over to stare out the bay window at the wintry abyss. I swore it couldn’t be any later than mid-afternoon, yet it was getting dark. It would be nightfall soon. Treacherous for a human. “And he’s thinking of running away,” I warned, branding myself a tattler. “Out there!”
“That’d solve one of my problems,” Leo mumbled.
“Leo! His parents are dead because of me! Yes, they may have been ogres, but still! And if Julian goes out there, he’ll die too.” A sudden swarm of emotions made my eyes burn. “Everyone’s dying because of me.”
Pity flickered across Leo’s face. He walked over and patted me on the shoulder. “Sometimes I forget you’re not accustomed to this dark world we’ve forced upon you . . . He’s not going anywhere. The dogs will keep guard.”
I’ll guard him, alright, Max muttered indignantly. I’ll guard him right off a cliff.
Now it was my turn to glower, at my guard dog. “Max, I’m having a hard time dealing with all of this. Can you stop being so . . . you?” I whirled away, stopping with my back to him.
“Why don’t you go and get some fresh air, Max,” Leo suggested, walking over to open the side door. I knew what that meant: go kill something. Probably a good idea. He hadn’t gone hunting since we arrived.
In my peripheral vision, I watched Max slink out the open door, leaving behind an air of rejection and a brisk chill that had crept inside with his exit. Guilt drew creases on my forehead. Toughen up, Evangeline.
“Now, what set Julian off, exactly?” Leo asked as he pushed the door closed.
“I told him I’m friends with vampires,” I mumbled, pulling my stack of pictures out of my pocket once again. I flopped down on the couch, no longer interested in conversation. Leo took the hint and focused on feeding the flames in the fireplace with more wood. I flipped through the entire stack, recalling the nights with my friends. They were the best days of my life. Now I had to be kept away from them because they’d kill me. Could I even call them friends anymore? As long as I was human, I would never be safe around them.
I flipped through the pictures three times before resting the stack on my chest and closing my eyes. I was far from falling asleep so I simply lay there, listening to the soft crackles of the fire in the silence of the cabin. My eyes were still closed when an eerie scratching sounded against the side door. I sat up immediately, my body rigid.
“Oh, not to worry.” Leo chuckled, walking over to turn the knob. “It’s just Max.” He yanked the door open and a large black rump backed inside. It was Max, alright.
“What the . . . ” Leo muttered.
Max was dragging something in with him. A body.
Julian.
I found him about a mile from here, waist-deep in snow, Max reported, gripping Julian’s jacket in his teeth.
Leo rushed to grab Julian under his armpits. Together, they dragged the still body over to lie beside the fire. I jumped off the couch and dove to his side, peering closely at him. Not a moan escaped him. No movement. “How did—” I began, then scrunched my face up in thought. Had I fallen asleep after all? Had Julian snuck past us and left? Or . . . I shot a questioning look at Leo, my eyes narrowing with suspicion.
He went out the window, Max quickly confirmed. I found prints leading from there. He must have pried it open and scaled down the wall.
“Determined fool,” Leo murmured, crouching down to inspect Julian’s pewter-colored lips.
“Is he . . . ” I couldn’t finish. A hollow bubble grew inside me. Another death.
“He’s not well, that’s for sure.” Leo hovered over him, his hands floating inches above his face. “Not well at all. Go and get some blankets and a pillow.”
I was on my feet and running up the stairs two at a time toward Julian’s room. Sure enough, I felt chill air the second I rounded the corner. I stopped at the shattered door and looked into the bedroom. The window still sat open a crack.
I scrambled inside, scooped the duvet and pillows from the bed, and half-dragged, half-carried them out of his room. Only when I was running down the hall did I remember his sister. She needed to know! “Valentina?” I called, my eyes roaming the hallway, wondering which room was hers. No answer. “Valentina! You need to come quickly!” My voice faltered for only a moment. “It’s Julian!”
“I’m sleeping,” Valentina called groggily. Where had that come from? Second door on the right. I grabbed the knob and turned it, only to hear a thud and feel resistance on the other side. Something was barricading the door. “I said I’m sleeping!” Valentina shouted.
“But it’s your—”
“Leave me alone!” she screeched, making me jump two steps back.
“Evangeline!” Leo bellowed desperately from below.
“Coming!” I ran back down the stairs, gripping the railing to keep from tumbling over the blankets.
I found Leo rolling up the sleeves of his shirt. “Make him comfortable and warm,” he instructed.
Comfortable . . . He’s unconscious and frozen. Possibly dead. Make him comfortable . . . I gently slid a pillow under Julian’s head, then draped the duvet over him, covering every inch of his body short of his face. “I don’t think this will help raise his body temperature,” I murmured warily.
“Of course not. Give me some space now,” Leo announced, kneeling beside him. “This will take a while. The trouble these bloody kids are causing me . . . ” he finished in a quiet grumble.
I dove for the nearest couch, hanging over the arm to watch Leo work. He sat completely still, his eyes closed, appearing deep in thought, or as if he were meditating.
Max settled directly beside me, and the other dogs appeared out of nowhere to investigate the situation as well.
“Magic?” I whispered, intrigued.
Yup . . . You know, I could have left him out there. Max began in a gruff voice. When I caught his scent, I went out of my way to find him. I figured you’d want to help him out. I glanced over to see his ochre eyes staring at me, brimming with something I rarely saw in them—anxiety.
My guilt-ridden werebeast was trying to make amends. I reached over and scratched behind his ear. “You did good, Max. Thank you.”
Not that he deserves it, Max said, earning a flat look. But I did it for you, he added quickly, leaning over to nestle against my neck.
“Do you think Julian will die?”
Max didn’t answer.
We sat. We waited.
I woke up to something warm and wet sliding across my cheek. Max’s tongue. Lifting my head from the arm of the couch, I groaned at a kink in my neck left by the awkward position. A colorful afghan draped my body. At some point, someone had tucked me in. I was thankful, given the draft that crept in from somewhere. I rolled my head to peer at the fireplace and saw only embers. The fire was Leo’s department. Where is he? I wondered, rubbing my eyes with my palms.
“How’d I end up back here?” a male voice croaked, startling a gasp from me. Julian was propped on the opposite couch, his face paler than normal, but alive. And he wasn’t scowling for once, which made his face pleasant to look at, his features dark and masculine.
I sat up to face him. “Max tracked you down in a deep snowbank.” I made sure I emphasized who his savior was. “He brought you back and Leo helped heal you. The lunatic butler and the freak mutt,” I added, repeating his words from yesterday.
Julian had the decency to look sheepish as he glanced over at Max.
“Are you stupid?” I blurted before I could stop myself. But then, after thinking about it for all of five seconds, I silently praised myself. He deserved it.
Julian smirked before dropping his gaze to his hands. “Yes, I suppose I am. I don’t know where I am, what is going on, why I’m here. I don’t know anything except that my parents are dead and I’m surrounded by . . . ” He didn’t finish, either because he lost his train of thought or he’d been about to drop another insult and decided against it.
I turned to look at Max. “Where’s Leo?”
Resting for the day.That much magic drained him.
“Okay.” I turned back to see Julian’s wide eyes and the same “Is she crazy?” look his sister had worn the day before. “Yes, I can talk to him telepathically,” I supplied. “I have no idea how. It just happened.”
Julian’s brown eyes shifted between Max and me. “Well,” he said after a long moment, “tell him thanks for me. It was colder than I anticipated.”
“You just did. He understands you,” I said. I glanced down at the floor to see my pictures scattered everywhere. I must have dropped them when Max came in with Julian. Rolling off the couch to my knees, I started gathering them.
“Are those your . . . friends?” Julian asked.
Friends. That word again. It was sounding more odd as time went on. I only nodded.
Julian eased himself off the couch to crouch on the floor and help collect the photos. He held up a picture of Bishop wearing a goofy grin and one of Caden, his face typically pensive. “So which one are you in love with?”
I snatched the picture from his hand, heat rising in my cheeks. He chuckled and continued picking up pictures, pausing on one of Amelie and Fiona. I noticed his eyebrow arch. “Who’s the blonde?”
Despite my dour mood, I grinned. “That’s Amelie. She’s really cute, isn’t she? You’d like her.” Except that she’s a vampire, and she’ll likely kill you.
“Yeah, I’ll bet,” he murmured wryly. I caught the fleeting look of disapproval before he consciously made it disappear. “I’m sorry about earlier,” he said. “I’ve been a complete jerk to you. I deserved what Max did.” Max let out a small grunt of satisfaction. Julian glanced over before continuing, likely a little disoriented by the dog’s uncanny ability to understand him. “It’s just . . . I know my parents were mixed up with some bad things. But they were still my parents and now they’re dead. One minute I’m visiting them for a weekend trip away from med school and the next thing I know, I’m . . . I don’t know where and . . . ”
“Med school?” Julian, the son of a Colombian drug lord, saving lives? Sofie hadn’t mentioned that.
“Yeah, my first year. I fast-tracked my undergrad,” Julian explained.
I watched him obliquely as we collected the rest of the pictures in silence, wary of this new calm, polite version of Julian. Had Leo magically fixed him to be . . . nice?
“Why aren’t they here, with you, if they’re your friends?” Julian suddenly asked.
“It’s a long story,” I muttered. I had no idea where to begin.
He handed me the stack he had collected, then prompted as he climbed back onto the couch, “Well, I’m clearly not going anywhere . . . ”
I glanced at Max, who only shook his head. Not surprising. This world of secrecy was all the big dog knew. Lies and manipulation. Of course he didn’t trust a soul.
“Please?” Julian coaxed, staring back at me with earnest brown eyes that looked more like those of an innocent seven-year-old than a twenty-something med student from a corrupt family. It was probably the same look I had in my eyes when I begged for the truth from Sofie. For once I held the answers, and I couldn’t bear to leave an innocent person in the friendless darkness where I had dwelt.
For the next hour, I gave Julian the Cole’s Notes version of my life as I had learned it over the last month, much to Max’s mortification. Julian sat cross-legged on the couch and listened quietly, all signs of his previous offensiveness gone, replaced with a mixture of appreciation and sympathy. Once in a while he asked a question, querying the venom issue or where Veronique was hiding, but otherwise he just listened, seemingly absorbing my words. He was a wonderful listener, I had to admit. Once I started, I found it effortless to talk to him. It was easier than talking to Caden—but that was likely because I couldn’t focus on any thought for too long around that face . . . Though Julian was becoming more appealing with his new demeanor, it was different.
I spoke briefly about Caden, stumbling over my words and blushing furiously. I left out anything that sounded like “love” and “soul mate” but the knowing look in Julian’s eyes revealed that he’d quickly deduced what Caden meant to me.
At some point, a servant set a tray holding weak tea and lightly buttered toast on the nearest end table for Julian, which he accepted with a polite nod. “It sounds like you’ve forgiven them,” he said, his face incredulous as he stirred sugar into his tea. “After everything they’ve done to you?”
“I wouldn’t say I’ve forgiven them,” I began slowly, feeling foolish again. I couldn’t even answer that truthfully. I had in fact forgiven Sofie. Completely. And there was nothing to forgive on Caden’s end. “Being angry won’t change anything. It will only turn me bitter. Maybe it will surface later and I’ll go on a psychotic rampage.”
“But . . . ” Julian paused, searching for words, “they tried to kill you and you still call them friends. You don’t see there being anything wrong with that?”
“It’s complicated,” I mumbled, shrugging. “There’s plenty wrong with everything that’s going on. I hope that by the time I see them again, they’ll have learned to control themselves.”
Julian leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees, his hands folded. “And when will that happen? How long? Are you—are we—stuck here until then?”
“Not long. Hard to say . . . ” I worked hard to hide the lie from my face but, by the crestfallen look on his, I knew I’d failed miserably. I couldn’t bring myself to tell him the full truth, that Sofie, an over-protective, borderline stalker, had locked us up here to keep me safe from a pack of vampires until they could be trusted around my blood.
We could die here.