B00528UTDS EBOK (23 page)

“But why? What does he hope to gain?” Rovati was confused. He had come to know the vampire as a dark creature, but one that only fed to survive. Their nature was changing, and he could not understand why.

Donavan shrugged his shoulders. “To rule the immortals … to rule the humans. Maybe he is seeking retribution for the power given to the wolves? I cannot tell you what is in my brother’s mind.”

“What do you plan to do about it?”

“Nothing. I cannot go against my own brother … my own kind.” Donavan turned away from the priest to gaze on the still form of his daughter.

“So you plan to let him slaughter a multitude of innocent people?” Rovati asked, astounded by Donavan’s seeming indifference.

“That is not what I said,” Donavan’s voice turned hard. “It will be up to the Light Seekers and the wolves to bring order back to our world. I help by not impeding their efforts.”

“Even after what they’ve done to your daughter?” Rovati’s voice shook with anger.

Donavan’s eyes rested on Nicole’s pale face. “My daughter knew the possible consequence of loving an immortal, but she will come out of this okay. Her destiny was foretold to me by a higher source.”

Sarah wore cutoff shorts and a white T-shirt with pink hearts across the front of it. She appeared to be furthest you could get from a vampire or a witch, but she was both. Darrien stood behind her, his hand resting on her shoulder. His nearness offered her protection and support. Sarah wasn’t sure which she needed most at that moment.

The woman that answered the door seemed mildly surprised when she saw them, but to her credit she smiled welcomingly. “Can I help you,” she asked.

“I’ve come to see my sister, to see Nicole,” Sarah’s words were rushed. She was worried. She hadn’t heard Nicole whispering to her for hours now. Not since she’d been given direction on where she should go once she and Darrien reached New Orleans.

“Of course. Please come in.” Vicky stepped aside so they could enter. “She’s in here.”

Sarah and Darrien followed the woman into a small room. A man wearing a black shirt and a priest’s collar stood near the bedroom window, but Sarah barely noticed him. It was the other man in the room that commanded her attention. His dark eyes were magnetizing. He very much resembled the girl - the phantom that had come to her the night before. This vampire was her father, and Nicole’s father.

Sarah’s eyes strayed to the girl on the bed. She was still - her face a pale mask of death. Rushing to her sister’s bedside, she placed a hand on her forehead. Her sister was burning with fever. She would need to move quickly before Nicole’s soul left her body entirely.

“You mean since you left us stranded in a sleazy motel room in Portland?” Sarah spoke the words through clenched teeth, her anger overcoming her common sense.

There was no more time to waste getting to know the father that had left her behind. At least Nicole had made an effort to find her, and it was her life that Sarah was concerned with at the moment.

Before Sarah could think of what she should do to help Nicole, she heard a commotion at the front of the house and a door slamming. A second later, a man rushed into the room. He was wearing a business suit and seemed completely out of place. She found his run of the mill, clean-cut appearance confusing because he was a vampire. This she was sure of, despite the wire rimmed glasses that he wore, but very likely didn’t need. A vampire’s eyes were never bad. Sarah knew that much.

The vampire went straight to Nicole’s bed. “Alec called me from the airport, he and Dash are on their way,” he told them. Glancing up at Sarah, the vampire held out his hand. “You must be Sarah,” he smiled. “I’m Ethan. I’ve been searching for you for a long time.”

Sarah shook his hand, and decided right away that this was one vampire that she could like, aside from Darrien.

For the first time Sarah noticed Jeanie in the bedroom doorway, and she ran to her aunt’s side. “Thank God you are okay. Darrien told me that someone thrashed the house.”

Jeanie waved away Sarah’s worry like she always did. “They were just throwing a tantrum … that’s all. I’m sure they were very angry to find that you had slipped away right under their noses,” she laughed.

“Oh … and Taylor sends his love,” Jeanie added with a wink.

Sarah didn’t miss the look of distress on Darrien’s face. She was sure her aunt had done it purposely, but she chose to ignore her aunt’s reference to Taylor.

“We have to do something for Nicole,” Sarah told her aunt.

“I know … and we will, but first we need space to work. We’ll need enough room to lay her on the floor, and to surround her with candles.”

“We can clear out the parlor,” Donavan spoke up.

* * * *

Nicole lay on the hardwood floor, encircled by white candles. Sarah knelt beside her, but the rest of the group stood outside the circle. Jeanie had told her what to do, but her aunt could not help. The magic would be far more powerful if a blood relative performed the ritual.

From the darkness beyond the candlelight, Sarah was aware of Alec’s anxiety. Ethan and Dash were restraining her sister’s lover by force. When he’d arrived, he’d gone straight to Nicole’s side. They had been unable to talk him into letting go of her hand, so that Sarah could do what she had to do. It had taken three of them to pull him away from Nicole.

Sarah chanted a spell of life, as she used mint oil to draw a star on Nicole’s head. Her hands shook with uncertainty, her doubts taunted her. She was after all - a novice witch. Could she really expect to pull this off?

Pushing the self-doubt from her mind, Sarah cleared her thoughts and concentrated on the task at hand. She picked up her crystal dagger, placing the handle against Nicole’s forehead, with the blade positioned toward the ceiling.

“Zaltar! I call you now!” Sarah called loudly.

The dagger began to glow. At first the blue light was dim, but it slowly brightened.

“I call the power of earth … fire … air … and water. I call to the spirits that reside in the north … the south … the east … the west. Breathe life back into her lungs. Give voice to her words, and chase away the shadow of death!”

The light emanating from the dagger grew so bright that Sarah was had to use her hand to protect her eyes, but then the light changed into brilliant prisms of color so breathtaking that there was no mistaking it for anything other than magic. When the light faded, a white mist gathered above Nicole’s head. Like ghostly fingers, the mist crawled over her body - finding its way into her nose and mouth - entering her head through her ears.

When the smoky mist began to retreat, it moved to Sarah - gathering at her shoulder. The mist darkened until it was completely black, and then it transformed into a raven.

“Nicole!” Alec called from across the room. Breaking away from Dash and Ethan, Alec went to where Nicole lay on the floor and knelt by her side.

Sarah felt a twinge of jealousy that her sister should enjoy the love of a mother, while she had been denied that love for so long. Shamed by her thoughts, Sarah pushed them out of her head and reached out to grab Vicky’s hand.

“I saw your son in a dream. He is happy and at peace. He is always near you and Nicole.”

Tears crept into Vicky’s eyes. “Thank you,” she said, clearing her throat. “You should tell Nicole this when she is well. She will want to hear about her brother.”

* * * *

Sarah sat on a marble bench, enjoying the garden and the cool evening breeze. It had been two days since Nicole had woken, and she was quickly regaining her strength. Sarah had spent many hours getting to know her sister, and filling her in on what had happened while she was comatose.

The sound of footsteps on the stone walkway intruded on the peaceful solitude she’d found in the garden. Donavan approached her, but Sarah refused to acknowledge him.

Taking a deep breath, Sarah returned to sitting on the bench next to him. “What do you have to say to me that you couldn’t have said years ago?” she asked.

“I have three daughters, and I love them all equally. You must understand Sarah … I will not be the cause of harm coming to them. And I will not bring this curse of my existence onto the women that I have loved,” he tried to explain.

“What do you mean?” Sarah was confused.

“Your mother … she would not accept what she was. Beth wanted me to turn her into what I am, but I refused.” Donavan grew silent for a long time before he continued.

“I knew that she loved me and would have done anything for me … even give up her existence as a human. I couldn’t let her do that. I loved her in my own way, and did not want her to live like I have had to live. Then there was you. I knew she could not be the mother that you needed, if she were to live as an immortal.”

“Yes, and I am eternally grateful to her for the love that she has given you … though I know she still disapproves of me,” Donavan added with a smile.

“So what do you think happened to my mother?” she asked, her heart softening slightly toward her father.

“I believe that she went in search of a vampire that would turn her. The fact that she never returned for you tells me that she found what she was looking for, and he brought her death, instead of the eternal life that she wanted.”

Tears stung Sarah’s eyes. Her mother had been so beautiful and so full of life. It was difficult to imagine that she was really gone. She had always believed that her mom would come back for her someday. She had fantasized about it as a child - daydreaming about what it would be like.

Her mother would walk up the drive of the old Fabre mansion, and with that beautiful smile on her lips, she would open her arms to Sarah. On that day, her mother would give her the biggest hug ever.

“I asked Ethan to see if he could track down Beth’s movements after she left you in Sutter Point. He was able to trace her to Wyoming. That was about ten years ago. It was the last place she was known to be.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.” Sarah drew her brows together in confusion. “If she were searching for vampires, wouldn’t she have come here to New Orleans … or maybe someplace like Romania?”

“You would think … but that is what we’ve been able to uncover so far.”

Sarah stood up. “I’m tired … I think I’ll go to bed early tonight,” she told him. The truth was that she just needed some time alone to digest what he’d told her, and to come to terms with her mother’s fate.

Sarah started to walk away, but paused at the sound of Donavan’s voice.

“Do not make the same mistake as your mother Sarah. An immortal cannot be what you need … not really.”

* * * *