Awakened (14 page)

Ana was one of the few innocents; my own hands were tainted by so much blood, my sight
was red with it. She was here because of her parents—their greed for power only awarded
them with death and their only child with slavery, losing even her name. Calling her
Sophie was forbidden, and no other Chorý here but me had ever risked using it.

She stood in the corner
,
shaking with fear. So beautiful and petite. With the strength of ten men and a thirst
for blood, she could easily be considered a monster, but it didn’t lessen her beauty
in my eyes. “Calm yourself, Ana. She will not tell him anything.”

She had felt the wrath of Laurent too many times to be calmed so readily. As soon
as I uttered the words to Ana, I knew that they meant nothing.

“Let’s go.” I gently pulled her down the hall toward the double doors that led to
the courtyard, to take her to the one place she often visited after a hard day. The
patio was filled with foliage strong enough to face winter’s wrath. It was dark out,
but the moon was high in the sky and shone brightly through the double doors.

Her eyes widened, and she pulled from my grasp.

Ana shook her head. “I can’t leave her in there, upset. I heard what you said to her.
How could you?” Fear and concern filled her small face. Ana knew what it was, to be
held against her will, to be hopeless and afraid. Even when she should have been angry
with Ella and her assumptions, she wasn’t. She understood Ella. In a way, she and
Ella were similar—only Ella’s life had an expiration date darkening it, set by Laurent.

“I had to make her understand, Anastaise.” I placed my hand on her shaking shoulder.
“She must be made to understand what has truly happened.”

Anastaise would hear nothing of it. I looked at her big golden eyes and had to make
myself remember that she was no longer a child. She had been brought here at only
fourteen, and in the four years that Laurent held her believing that she was the Arc,
she’d been forced to become something she wasn’t.

Though in that time, girls her age were married and with child, she was still so innocent;
and in my eyes, she’d remained that way. I did the dirty deeds that Laurent insisted
she do. Anything a child like her shouldn’t have had to see or do, I shielded it from
her. Maybe my shelter had weakened her in the world where she would have been forced
to maim or kill. I took her sins as my own to keep her own hands clean.

“You shouldn’t have told her that. It wasn’t fair of you to do that.” Anastaise shook
her head.

Her disappointment burned through me. I went to place my hand on my chest but stopped.

Anastaise held her hands to her face. “You think she has no right to be angry, that
she should just trust what we say to her, but why would she? How could she? We keep
her here for him, and we know what he will put her through when he returns.”

The hole where my heart once belonged shuddered again.

“Darke, we
are
the monsters she believes us to be. When will we admit that to ourselves?” She sighed
heavily and headed for the door.

I stopped her. “Do you truly believe that, Sophie?” I stared at her, amazed at how
little she thought of herself. Such a beautiful innocent creature she was in front
of me. “Do you truly believe that you are a monster?”

She glanced away from me for a moment and then peered into my eyes, as if debating
how to answer me.

How could she feel that way? I had worked so hard to protect her from the dark deeds
that she would’ve had to commit for Master, yet she still felt as tarnished as I was.

I looked down at her hands, smooth, pale, and clean, and then to mine—dark and calloused,
they announced all my sins and the innocent lives I had taken. The ties I once had
with the Council were long gone, and though I believed that they were corrupt, I still
believed in their ability to protect Ella from the fate she’d been promised too long
ago. I only wondered if they’d gotten my clue. Would my brother follow it and save
her? Such a small slip might have gone unnoticed.

It wasn’t that I was trying to redeem myself. I had given up on that hope long ago,
but if the myths were true about this Arc, her life was worth more than my own. I
just hoped that they would save Anastaise, as well.

“Am I not?” She continued toward the door.

I followed close behind her, searching for something to tell her to soothe her worries,
but the truth was that if Anastaise and I didn’t stay with Laurent and the blood of
the Master, then we would become the monsters that she spoke of—well, she would become
that monster. I had become one long ago.

“You are not a monster,” I repeated, with even more conviction than before.

“Give it time,” she said ominously as she headed out the door. I looked at her inquisitively.
She often said things to me that gave me pause. Any Chorý without the blood of his
master would turn into a true vampire—a rogue, as most would call them. Some could
resist
la Luxure
for centuries, while others fell within decades. Our blood master was the rogue that
resided, imprisoned, in Leif’s care. Laurent used his tainted blood to create an army
of Chorý and controlled us easily, because no one wanted to become a true vampire.
We’d all seen the monster’s lust for blood that at times was so strong that he would
attempt to drain himself.

His lust for blood had been his downfall. Laurent had captured him in broad daylight,
chasing a woman down the dirtied cobblestone streets of England.

“Do you mean
la Luxure
?” I asked as Ana headed over to the stone wall that was cloaked in her favorite yellow
flowers.

Anastaise turned to me and smiled; soft and sweet, her lips inched up revealing her
beautiful but deadly fangs. She plucked two flowers from the bush without even facing
it and then came to stand next to me. She reached out and took my hand gently, placing
the butter-colored bud in my palm, my honey colored skin a warm contrast to her pale
alabaster.

Why the flower?
I looked at it and then at her, my brow furrowed.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” she asked, not once taking her eyes off of mine.

“Exquisite,” I said, but not about the flower. Showing interest in Ana would put us
both in danger, if Laurent learned of it.

Anastaise’s eyes sparkled in the moonlight, and her silky hair ruffled and swayed
with the chilling winter breeze. She looked away, no doubt understanding what my comment
had meant, and I chuckled. Though she was trapped in the body of an eighteen-year-old,
she was more than a hundred and fifty.

She removed her hands from mine and placed them at her side. “Do you know why I love
this plant, Raúl?”

Her use of my given name sent a jolt throughout my system. I glanced away from her
and into my hand again. The yellow bud still lay there. I was not that man anymore.

“Look at me,” she demanded softly, and I complied. “I love this plant, because even
in winter it blooms, taking away some of the cold gloom of winter.” Anastaise closed
my hand and tightened hers around mine. “Its bloom is so small that from far away
they all look like a yellow cloud.” She giggled and continued to close my hand, using
her Chorý strength to crush my fingers together.

The pain was intense but manageable, and all I could do was stare at her in surprise,
even as I heard my bones crunch. She’d never shown her strength before. I didn’t know
why she’d hidden it, or why she was using it now. But I was much older and stronger
than she, so it was easy to avoid crushing the delicate bloom in my hand.

“Sometimes I wonder if our kind is meant to live, you know.”

What did she mean? I stared at her, waiting for an explanation.

She opened my broken hand and stared at the bloom. It was untouched, delicate and
whole in the middle of my palm. My bones started to pop back into place and mend as
I gazed at the flower.

“You protected it, Raúl. You didn’t let harm come to it,” she said quietly.

I still didn’t speak. I simply gazed into her sad eyes.

“But it will still die,” she whispered. “It didn’t stand a chance from the moment
I plucked it from its home and placed it into your hand. You cannot stop its death.”
A lone tear slid down her pale face.

“Don’t—don’t lose faith in me, Sophie,” I begged. I threw the little yellow flower
to the ground and squeezed her hands to reinforce my words. Sophie smiled and returned
a light squeeze of her own, nothing compared to her crushing grasp earlier. My hand
hadn’t yet completely healed, and I still felt the light tinges of pain.

Sophie glanced at my hands and then pulled them to her lips and placed a light kiss
on each knuckle. “Sorry.” She let go and moved back to the shrubs of winter jasmine.
“I’ve not lost faith in you; I have lost my desire to—”

“Don’t! I won’t hear it.” I growled in anguish.

She turned to me, expression somber. She wasn’t going to give up now. Not when I had
risked so much for her. Not when I had fallen on love with her. She didn’t know my
plan—at least, I didn’t think she did. She was such a smart girl, sometimes—too smart
for her own good.

“I will fix this; I will make your life better!”

I felt
his
presence almost like a dark cloud over me.

“And how, pray tell, will you do that?” Laurent asked coolly.

I turned around slowly and smiled as he sauntered closer to us. The pleasant thought
of the Council taking Laurent out had been an instant reel in my head, of late. If
the Council had followed the clues I’d left behind, they would soon be here, making
Laurent too busy protecting his precious Arc to stop me from sending Ana away. If
he lost his Arc, he wouldn’t waste time or resources looking for Ana and if the Council
failed, I prayed that he would be content to punish me and leave Ana be.

“While you are both out here, my Arc is sitting all alone in her room—or roaming my
estate, looking for a way out.” His voice turned into a slight growl as he finished
his sentence.

“Sir.” I bowed my head. “I will find her immediately,” I promised.

Laurent frowned and shook his head. “No need.” His voice held no trace of anger, but
the fire in his grey eyes betrayed him. “I know where she is. I will get her myself.”

He looked past me to Anastaise and frowned. “My little dove, is your life here so
bad?” I felt Anastaise tremble behind me. “If you need a break from your duties, all
you need do is ask.” He held out his hand, summoning her. She maneuvered around me
and stood in front of Laurent, placing her hand in his. He lead her into the estate
and out of my sight.

I would save her from that deplorable man if it was the last thing I did.

Ella

As soon as I heard Ana and Darke walk away, I slowly moved my ear away from the door
and rushed into action. A slight jab of guilt pierced my spine, and I paused. What
would happen to Ana and Darke when Laurent returned, and I was gone?

I was angry with myself for caring about the two of them, but the recent conversation
with Darke made me wonder. Could Darke and Ana be in the same situation that I was
in? There against their will. My heart raced at the thought of Ana being snatched
from her home and family. I understood how she felt, if that were the case. The night
that Laurent had taken me, I had resigned myself to giving up my freedom to protect
my friends and family, but who was I putting at risk by being Laurent’s pawn?

I shook my head, pushing away the guilt—and the urge to consider Darke’s words about
my parents as something other than lies—and grabbed the pants that I’d arrived in
from the dresser. I swiftly and efficiently yanked them over my legs, hiking up the
dress in the process. I didn’t want to waste any time with the shirt, so I tucked
the dress in the waist of my pants and searched for my shoes.

Ana had set them by the door. I rushed over to them. I didn’t want to go outside in
the snow barefoot.

I shoved my feet in them
,
then grabbed the wool throw off of the bed and headed to the door. I placed my ear
to the door and listened for any movement. My pulse was racing, and all I could hear
was my heartbeat echoed in my head. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, hoping
to calm my nerves. I needed my head clear and my heart to slow down; I was getting
dizzy, and I couldn’t afford the distraction. I couldn’t afford a mistake, and I needed
to be calm enough to not panic.

I turned the knob, thankful that Darke and Ana never locked the door. Maybe they weren’t
worried about me leaving the room because I wouldn’t get far.

I couldn’t worry about that now. I pulled the large wooden door open. It creaked;
I winced. I had never heard the stupid door creak before, but of course it would,
now that I needed it to be quiet.

The brightly lit hall was lined with oil paintings of what looked to be generals and
royalty. I stumbled as I walked out of the door. I needed to stop and take a breath
and calm my nerves, but I didn’t have time.

I went down the hall in the opposite direction from where Ana had always taken me—away
from the two locked doors, the dining room and kitchen, and the courtyard with a stone
gate taller than Darke that I wouldn’t have been able to climb on my best day. The
carpet was thick and quiet under my feet, and the faint scent of ash caught my attention.
I passed a sitting room that was lavishly decorated and a library with bookshelves
at least nine feet tall full of old and new books.

I nearly tripped on the plush carpet; I’d been walking around barefoot for the past
two days, and oddly enough, it felt like I hadn’t worn shoes in a few years. My entire
body felt wrong, and with each step, I increasingly wondered if I was doing the right
thing or not. An odd feeling slithered up my spine and snaked its way around my throat,
taking the air I needed to breathe. I placed my hand on the wall and used the rough
wallpaper to guide me further down the hall.