Descended by Blood (22 page)

I tried to shrug him off. I wanted to lie down and die next to Lijepa.

He pulled my shoulder harder and stuck something in front of my face. “Read it,” he demanded.

I whimpered the same way a child does after they have cried too long and inhaled a ragged breath. I wiped my eyes, trying to clear them enough to make out the words. The tears kept coming. It took me a minute before I could finally read the fine calligraphy.

Brooke,

I left you a present, just in case you thought I wasn’t serious before. The same comes to those who aid you in defying me. I am weary of chasing after you. You will come to me this time. If not, your family and anyone that you have ever loved, known, or passed by on the street will die a much more excruciating death than poor Lijepa did.

I don’t give second chances.

Aunty Jelena

“It was stuck to the frame here,” Mirko said, pointing to the wall, “with this.” He stuck out the knife Lijepa had used to cut up our pie last night.

I dropped the letter. “Aunty Jelena?”

He nodded. “She’s Zladislov’s sister.”

Betrayal fought with anger inside me. “How could you not tell me?”

He didn’t even look regretful. “Would it have made any difference? You weren’t close to her. Your father’s not close with her. You don’t even know her.”

“It doesn’t matter. The fact remains that it’s a pretty big piece of information, and you hid it from me,” I growled. Now, I was furious. “Did Lijepa know as well?”

“Yes, but it would have stunted your growth. Our goal was the opposite.”

I closed my eyes. Everyone. Everyone had now lied to me. Except for Kaitlynn. I stood. I couldn’t do anything more here for Lijepa. My opportunity to help her had passed.

“I need to get to Kaitlynn.” I stepped on Jelena’s note because I didn’t have the energy or care to step over it. I walked through the living room, toward the door. My wet sneakers crunched against pieces of porcelain and burnt wood.

Mirko trailed behind me. “Wait. Let me go see if I can find the sat phone.”

I snubbed him and kept walking. I walked down the steps and down the dirt road in front of the cottage. Mirko hadn’t grabbed me, or come after me, and I didn’t care to find out why. My mind was set on one thing. Kaitlynn. I would hitchhike and force the first person I came across to take me there.

I made it all the way to the main road before Mirko reached me. “We’re going to have to catch a ride back.”

I didn’t look at him.

He stepped in front of me, halting me. “Look Slatki, don’t you dare give me this attitude. I have risked my life for you and your friends, and I won’t put up with it.”

I pierced him with my gaze. “You. Lied. To. Me.”

“I did, and I did it for your own good. If you’d known Jelena was your aunt, you would have used it for more ammunition to hate yourself. ‘Oh, I’m such a monster.’ You would have been more determined to hide away and let everyone else take care of the bad guy.”

He was mocking me.

I clenched my jaw. “Didn’t I come to you and tell you the other night that I wanted to go after Jelena myself? And don’t lie to me because I know I did.”

He grunted. “Yes, but that was only after Lijepa had shown you that you weren’t a monster and you had opened up a little bit to your powers. You think you would have had the balls to even consider going after her when you were in your scared, denial state? I don’t think so.”

“I’m on my way to Kaitlynn. You can follow or not. I don’t care.” I stepped around him and onto the asphalt.

He spoke to my back, “I’m coming, but you better start appreciating that your precious little Kaitlynn is safe right now because Ace has been taking care of her. At my base. Because I ordered him to. Chew on that with all your other crap.” And he stepped around me, hiking down the road, his back to me.

25

I Intend to Keep You

Mirko flagged a car coming down the mountain with a young couple driving it, but when they stopped, I stepped in front of him to use my Sanjam. I did it to make a point—I could do things myself.

Mirko grinned at me. But once we got in the car and it came time to direct them, I remembered that I’d been asleep the last time I left The Base; and the time before that, it had been dark. I couldn’t remember how to get back.

Mirko had to take over their minds from there. I was glad he didn’t rub it in when he did so. He did smirk before I gave them to him, though.

The roads were clear on our way to The Base, but it still took us almost an hour to get there. When we pulled up to the gates, Mirko instructed the couple, and they left. He walked up to the small security building and grabbed keys to the Hummer parked beside it. “I’ll have someone bring it back,” he told the guy. The guy opened the gates, and Mirko drove us to the barracks.

I hopped out of the Hummer before Mirko killed the engine. I took the steps two at a time and ran down the hall. “Kaitlynn,” I yelled. I fled up the stairs and made it to our hall before I yelled again, “Kaitlynn.”

She came out of our room. “Brooke?”

I slowed down before I plowed into her. I wrapped my arms around her and cried on her shoulder. She pulled away enough to look at me, “What’s going on? What are you doing back already?” She grabbed me and steered me into our room, then shut the door.

Three seconds later, there was a knock on the door, and Jaren peeked in. “Brooke? Are you all right?” He sounded worried.

“Yeah,” I said, wiping at my eyes. “Can I talk to Kaitlynn for a bit?” He looked slighted, so I added, “I’ll talk to you in a minute, okay?”

He nodded and closed the door behind him.

I reached down and snatched and yanked at my shoelaces to get my feet out of the soggy socks. As soon as I did, I realized I didn’t have a stitch of clothing to my name right now. Everything had been left behind at Lijepa’s. “Can I borrow a pair of socks?” I asked, my bottom lip quivering.

“Sure.” Kaitlynn walked over to the closet. “Where’s your bag? And you didn’t say anything about coming back today when I spoke with you last night.”

“Let me get these on first.” I reached for the clean pair of warm cotton socks she handed to me.

I slipped them over my feet and wiggled my toes, savoring the tickles caused by the lint balls inside.

I exhaled a deep, long breath. “All right,” I started, and then told her the whole story, beginning with the moment I hung up the phone with her. She cried with me over Lijepa’s murder. We cried together for a long time before I finished telling her the rest of the details and about how Mirko and Lijepa had lied to me and why Mirko said they did it.

“They were right,” she said.

I frowned. “You think they were right by lying to me? Everyone has lied to me except you.” I raised my eyebrows. “At least that I know of.”

She gave me a weak snort in reply. “I’ve never lied to you, but Mirko was right. If they had told you Jelena was your aunt, would it have blocked all the progress you were making?”

I thought about it and really wanted to say no, but couldn’t. “If I had known, I would have pushed harder against the changes.” I slouched my shoulders. “But how do I reconcile that he lied to me over something so big, but then not be mad at him because he made the right decision? What if it didn’t turn out so great? Forgiving him would give him free range to lie to me about anything, as long as he thought it was for the right reasons.”

Kaitlynn squeezed my hand. “Yeah, I don’t know what to tell you. Do you think he would ever lie to you for selfish reasons?”

I pondered if that would be something Mirko would do. I recalled how I felt while wandering the pathways in his brain and how honesty had been prominent. It must have worn heavily on him to keep my relation to Jelena hidden. “I don’t think he ever would.”

Kaitlynn looked pleased with my reply. “Well, that’s something.” I agreed with her, but still didn’t know how to keep Mirko from lying to me again if he thought it was best.

We wound down our conversation by going over what she’d been through while here. It wasn’t nearly as eventful as my time away had been, but hearing her talk offered a moment of normalcy.

When we finished, I asked, “Do you know what Jaren wants to talk to me about?”

“No, but he’s probably worried. You ran in here bawling and hollering for me like a crazy person.”

I laughed. “I did, didn’t I?” She nodded. “Great, add that to the long list of baggage. Now, I’m embarrassed for making a scene.”

Kaitlynn laughed and shook her head.

“Can you tell Jaren to come in here? Or do you want me to go to him? I don’t want to come back and then kick you out.” Man, that sounded terrible of me.

She smiled and rose from the bed. “It’s no biggie. I’ll go get him.”

“Thanks.” I smiled.

* * *

It wasn’t long before Jaren knocked.

“Come in,” I replied.

“Hey,” Jaren said, walking into the room. “How are you doing?”

I smiled weakly. “It’s been really rough. Things were going great until today. Did anyone tell you what happened with Lijepa?”

He knit his brow. “Yeah, Mirko told me while you were talking with Kaitlynn. I’m really sorry to hear that. I can tell Lijepa had come to mean a lot to you.”

“Thank you. How about you? How’ve you been?”

He sat next to me on the bed. “Okay, I guess. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking while you were gone, well, more like ever since you told me off.” He chuckled.

I smiled, but didn’t say anything.

“Well, I realized that you were right. I transferred my fear of the guy who attacked us at my apartment onto you. And frankly, I was attracted to Holly Anne. I couldn’t figure out why I was fine with her being a vampire, but hesitant about it with you, until you mentioned what I was doing. I finally understood that you’re still the same girl. You run with a bit of a different crowd now, but you’re still you. I’m sorry. I wasn’t fair to you, and I miss you. I’d like to be with you again, if you’re willing to forgive me.”

I sat in stunned silence. I thought he would be coming in here to check on me. When I’d dreamed of his apology, I always envisioned it with me having more time to sort out my feelings for him. I focused on his last sentence and didn’t know what to say, but then I processed everything else he said before it.

I smiled, but it didn’t reach my eyes. “I’ve wanted to hear those words ever since the night I found out I was a vampire, and you tossed me aside like damaged goods. And now, here I am, hearing these words, and I’m not sure they mean what I thought they would.” I frowned and met his gaze. “I’m not the same girl. I’ve changed. Whether I am a monster, or whether I’m not, is irrelevant at this point. There’s so much more going on than my feelings for you or your feelings for me, or who I am, or what my DNA is made of. I need to get this figured out with Jelena. If I don’t, you, Kaitlynn, and those around me will always be in danger. And I can’t be the person that’s the cause of any more deaths or suffering. What Jelena did to Lijepa was terrible. And I’m going to feel responsible for that for the rest of my life because I was too much of a coward to step forward or sacrifice myself so she wouldn’t have to.”

He shook his head in protest, but I continued.

“It’s changed me. I’m not the same girl, and you need to know that. I’m not even sure that being with you is right anymore. I still love you, care for you, and want the best for you, but I’m not sure that’s me anymore.”

Jaren cleared his throat, but when he spoke his voice broke, anyway. “This was not how I thought this would go.” His face was dismal, and he blinked hard. Then anger replaced the sorrow on his face and he pursed his lips. “It’s Mirko, isn’t it? He got to you.”

He was right. If I didn’t have these feelings for Mirko, I would have taken Jaren back right now.

“Honestly, I have feelings for Mirko, and I have to contend with those, too.”

Jaren squinted his eyes. “I knew that’s what he had planned when he wouldn’t let me go with you.”

“Did you not feel what I did to Zack? Because Kaitlynn did.”

He nodded. “Yeah, but it was nothing serious. I bet they could have managed it while we were there. But he didn’t
want
us there.”

“Jaren, please,” I pleaded, pinching the bridge of my nose. “This needs to stop between you two. I need you to work together until this is over and stop stressing me out.”

He got up from the bed. “Fine. I’ll be civil with him until Jelena is taken care of, but this is not over for him. I may have been stupid before by not fighting to keep you, but I won’t make that mistake twice. You loved me first, and I intend to keep you.” He walked toward the door. When he opened it, he paused and looked over his shoulder. “I really am glad you’re okay.” Then he turned so that he faced me. “I love you, Brooke.” My jaw dropped, and he stepped outside the door and closed it.

26

Enjoy the Little Things

Sleep evaded me. My body shut down, but my mind reeled. I knew some of it stemmed from having too much to solve, but mostly, I feared seeing Lijepa’s charred flesh when I closed my eyes.

I hadn’t talked to anyone else, other than Kaitlynn, after Jaren left. I wished she’d been able to tell me what to do with everything.

Someone knocked on the door as the sun began to peek between our curtains. I jumped off the bed, landing softly on the floor so as to not wake Kaitlynn. I turned the knob, and Mirko stood on the other side of the door, appearing too cheerful for this time of day.

“Morning, Slatki,” he said and then recoiled. “You don’t look so cute this morning. If you couldn’t sleep, you should have come down to my room.”

Who tells a girl she looks like crap? I pushed the door to slam it in his face, but he stopped it with his foot. “Regardless,” he said, holding up a plastic bag, “we have training to do. Get dressed and meet me in the gym.”

I snatched the bag and pushed the door shut. This time he didn’t resist. I looked inside the sack and found he had bought clothes for me to wear. I grabbed a clean towel and ambled down to the bathroom.