02 Blood Roses - Blackthorn (20 page)

Parts. She just had to tell him parts.

She glanced back up at Caleb. ‘It says it’s a symbol of protection.’

‘Protection against what?’

‘It doesn’t say.’

‘Then what does it say?’

Under the intensity of his gaze, she looked back down at the page, pretending to scan as her mind ploughed into creative overdrive. ‘It protects all who have it. All who are
chosen
to have it. Protection from…’ She shrugged. ‘There are all sorts of mythological and metaphysical hierarchies and orders mentioned here. I haven’t even heard of half of them. They probably don’t even exist anymore.’ She glanced back up at him. ‘It doesn’t make a lot of sense, but most of this book is like that.’

‘Go on.’

The nausea rose in her throat, worsened by the lingering scrutiny in Caleb’s eyes. ‘There’s nothing else to say. It’s just a brief reference.’

‘It says something about a prophecy.’

She knew the flare in her eyes had not gone unnoticed.

‘You’re not the only linguist, Leila. Some vocabulary transcends languages. So tell me more.’

Leila stared into his uncompromising eyes. He couldn’t know. He couldn’t possibly know. None of the vampires knew. Her thumping heart overrode the silence in the room. But if he did, he’d know she was holding back. She had to tread carefully. ‘It says it’s reserved for those of a certain lineage. The Higher Order probably – that’s what it usually means.’

‘You mentioned the word
chosen
. Chosen for what?’

‘I don’t know.’

Caleb kept perfectly still, his eyes narrowing slightly. ‘Why’s it in that book?’

‘Probably because of the reference to the bloodline. It contains everything to do with blood. I’d need countless other reference sources to connect it all together. All the books link together like a puzzle if you want the whole picture. I haven’t read them for years. Some I’ve never read. You’re expecting me to pull out one tiny fragment from a whole tapestry. It doesn’t work like that.’

Something was simmering behind his eyes – an icy purposefulness, a look that, in contrast to his earlier gaze that could have been mistaken for affection, was now clearly one of a vampire face-to-face with a serryn. ‘You’re lying.’

Her stomach flipped. ‘I’m not.’

‘Yes, you are. You’re trying to hide something, which tells me there’s more going on here. Something you don’t want me to know.’ His gaze lingered to the point she felt he wasn’t going to look away again. ‘What’s so special about that symbol?’

Her stomach wrenched, her pulse racing, her mouth arid.

Saving a vampire was one thing. Disclosing a secret as ancient as her race that could put her in the heart of her worst fear was another. She had to protect the secret. She had to. The very reason the book should never have been in Blackthorn in the first place.

The secret could never come out.

She flashed back to Beatrice gazing empathetically at her with those soulful eyes.

‘You understand why your grandfather had to bring you here,’ Beatrice had said. ‘He tells me of your studies, how attentive you are. Your knowledge is already impressive, let alone the fluency of your interpreting, even in such a short space of time.’

‘I told you, I like to read.’

‘And of the prophecies, you have read of the Tryan?’

Even back then it had made every hair on the back of her neck stand up. Of course she knew of the prophecy, it was every serryn’s responsibility to know the prophecy. ‘Yes.’

‘And your grandfather has spoken to you of it?’

‘Yes.’

‘And, Leila, more than anything else, you have to understand and accept it. If I can convince you of anything today, it will be that. Because if it is you, if you are the pre-destined, then you have to hone your skills better than any other. The survival of humankind depends on it.’

She’d held her gaze, every part of her utterly resolute. ‘All the more reason for me to never go near one.’

‘Leila, if it is your destiny, your paths will cross and you have to be prepared. All the training serryns go through, all the studies, yes, it’s about destroying our enemy but above all, above all else, it’s about being ready. If you are the one, and you are found lacking, then everything, everything we have fought to protect, will be theirs. You have to accept this possibility, Leila. You cannot hide from your fate.’

‘What if I don’t want to be a serryn? How do I get rid of it?’

‘Two options – one impossible and the other unthinkable. But neither of which you want to consider. The consequences are too great. You are what you are. The calling is there, Leila. That much you cannot ignore. And if you are the chosen serryn—’

‘I’m not. And I don’t think I need any more of these meetings, Beatrice. Thank you for your time, but I think I understand enough now.’

Leila had tried to march away but Beatrice had caught her arm.

‘Live in the world, Leila, not locked away from it. Books hold no comparison to life experience. Mix with people and learn from them. Fall in love. Get hurt. Know what real emotion is. Let it scar you. All of that will give you the best defence should your time ever come. Innocence will teach you nothing – only numb your awareness of your true feelings. You need to play them at their own game. You must in order to survive.’

How right Beatrice had been – how painfully right. And the reality was hitting her so hard she was almost breathless.

If Caleb had seen it, it was already in form. The mark of the new era had arrived. And the one secret she had been warned to contain was at risk of being in the hands of a vampire who potentially knew the carrier.

There was only one Higher Order vampire he got up close and personal with.

Feinith.

Feinith was the one. Feinith was the chosen one. That’s why she’d wanted her alive.

Dread seized her.

Somehow she had found out. Somehow she had uncovered the secret – the key to activate the Armun.

This was it, this was her worst fear – not just being discovered by a vampire, tortured, abused and slaughtered or captured by those who wanted to mercilessly use her blood to slay them. Her greatest fear was the possibility, the tiny possibility that the Tryan would rise in her lifetime.

And if Feinith did know and, in her desperation to get her hands on her, had given Caleb even an inkling of the truth, her chances of getting out alive had just fallen to zero.

This was no longer about just her and Alisha anymore. Her decision to go there hadn’t just been stupid, it had been potentially catastrophic.

And if Caleb
did
know, he was playing a very cruel game indeed.

No. She had to tell herself it was just her paranoia. She
needed
to believe it was just her paranoia.

‘I told you; it’s a symbol for someone of the Higher Order bloodline, and it offers them protection,’ she said. ‘As for prophecies, the book is full of them. That’s all I can tell you.’

He watched her for a moment, studying her eyes pensively. She stared hesitantly back, anxious that her eyes would betray so much to one who seemed to be able to read her every thought.

‘Why’s it so important to you?’ she asked.

‘Why are you so reticent to disclose anything if it doesn’t mean anything?’

‘I took an oath never to tell the secrets of that book to anyone, let alone a vampire.’

‘And that’s just it, isn’t it, Leila – your dedication to your cause?’

Unease wrenched at her stomach. ‘My only cause is, and has only ever been, to get me and Alisha out of here alive.’

‘So you keep saying.’

His gaze locked on hers, but only for a moment longer before he closed the book and pushed it aside. She expected him to stand, but he just reclined more in his chair, his foot still on the rung of hers, his silence escalating her panic.

‘You’ve seen that symbol somewhere, haven’t you?’ she said.

He ran his thumb lightly along his lower lip as his gaze didn’t leave hers.

‘Or why else would you be so interested in it? Or is it more the case of the wearer you’re interested in?’ she added.

He almost smiled.

The tightness in her chest was excruciating. She couldn’t help but ask him. ‘Where were you while I was asleep?’

‘You’re not going to get all possessive of me now, are you, Leila?’

‘I asked you a question.’

‘And I asked you one, but I guess we both have something we want to hold back on.’

‘I’m not stupid, Caleb. That symbol is reserved for the Higher Order and there’s only one Higher Order vampire you get up close and personal with, from what I understand.’

‘Is that why you’re so reticent?’ He reached for her wine glass and took a mouthful. ‘I know her wanting you has something to do with that symbol. What I want you to tell me is the link.’ He looked back at her. ‘Why it’s making you panic.’

‘Anything to do with her makes me uneasy.’

‘Clearly.’ He paused. ‘But she doesn’t have the hold over me you think she does.’

‘No?’

‘No.’

His steady gaze did little to abate her tension, despite the seeming sincerity in his eyes. Silence lingered as that gaze didn’t falter, as he waited for her to speak.

But she had nothing to say. Nothing she
could
say. Not until he revealed more of what he knew.

‘But I understand why you’re worried,’ he said. ‘Why you’re so reluctant. Hell, if I was the key to a pending vampire uprising, I wouldn’t want to be talking about it either.’

Horror gripped her and rendered her speechless as his eyes didn’t flinch from hers. Suspect though she did, hearing it slip from his lips made it all too real. The walls pulsated, the darkness seeming to encroach even further physically and mentally as words continued to fail her.

‘You’re not going to deny it then? That the symbol is the Armun. How the one who carries it has to drain every drop of a serryn’s blood and steal her soul? How the chosen one leaves her at the Brink in agony for all eternity, while they rise to power, finally dragging humankind into slavery. That’s how it goes, right? The Tryan gets their hands on you and the prophecies begin.’

He took another steady mouthful of wine before pushing the base of the glass away with his fingers.

‘No wonder you couldn’t wait to get out of here,’ he said, looking back at her. ‘For every second that passed, you knew you were one more second closer to discovery. That’s why you’ve kept yourself so safely locked away all these years. If no one else knew about you, neither would the Tryan. I thought you were valuable before, but now…’ He raked his gaze slowly over her. ‘You must be absolutely priceless.’

She didn’t dare flinch – couldn’t, even if she wanted to. ‘How long have you known?’

‘A few hours.’

‘So how much has she offered you to betray me, Caleb? How much is your word worth?’

He almost smiled. ‘Betray you? That’s an emotive term, Leila.’

She coiled her fingers into
her
damp palms. ‘It doesn’t take a genius to work out who would have had to disclose their safely guarded truth in order to prize me away from you.’ She kept her gaze as squarely on his as her nerves would allow. ‘So what’s this about now, Caleb? Are you hoping to up your bargaining power with her? Like you said, I must be absolutely priceless.’

‘It’s more a case of what you’re willing to offer, Leila, in exchange for your life; for thwarting the vampiric road to supremacy.’

An icy chill ran through her. ‘Because anything I could offer you would be worth more than that, right?’

‘Don’t be so defeatist, Leila. It’s not like you.’

She couldn’t help the resentment leaking into her tone. ‘What do you want?’

‘I want you to look me in the eye and tell me that’s not why you’re here. Why you targeted me.’

‘Because of Feinith? How was I supposed to know about that? If that’s what you think, if you think I used you to get to her, you’re insane.’

‘Really? I had word about Sophie whilst you were sleeping.’

Her stomach flipped.

‘Don’t worry – she’s alive. Last thing I heard she was, anyway. She’s definitely here in Blackthorn somewhere. And I have the pictures to prove it. CCTV images from the bars and clubs she was doing. Who with.’

He met her gaze again, his lingering painfully.

‘I know she belongs to some kind of vigilante group,’ he continued. ‘They call themselves The Alliance apparently. They’re targeting certain core vampires – vampires with power or influence in Blackthorn. They’ve been working underground a long time with no one having a clue, so they’re good. They also have very subtle tactics it seems, including suicide missions, in the name of their cause.’

Unease flooded her.

‘What kind of twisted organisation agrees to its members being fed to death just so they can kill a vampire with their dying blood?’ he added. ‘Not Sophie of course. But she’s a part of it.’

She stared at him in horror. Shook her head. ‘No.’

‘So tell me again just how innocent your arrival here was.’

‘You’ve got this wrong. It’s a coincidence. My sister wouldn’t be involved in that. She has nothing to do with what happened to Jake.’

‘So there is absolutely no chance at all that she came here with the vengeance tirade
you
should have had to redeem your mother’s murder? How well do you know either of your sisters, Leila?’

She couldn’t pull her gaze from his.

‘Only it seems to me you don’t know them as well as you think you do,’ he said.

‘None of this has anything to do with my sisters. This is between you and me.’

‘You have to understand my concern though, Leila. The plot just keeps thickening with you, doesn’t it?’

‘I have proved myself to you twice.’

‘And I want you to prove yourself once more.’

‘What are you talking about?’

‘Like you said, this is between you and me.’

‘Me and you and the fate of both our species.’

‘If you want to put it so dramatically. And what self-respecting serryn wouldn’t take every opportunity to tempt me to bite now and get themselves the hell out of here now they’d been found out? You’d have to be suicidal not to.’