Eternal Shadows (12 page)

The three of them were silent after that. I clutched the arms of the chair tighter, having no idea what any of that meant. Dismemberment was self-explanatory enough, but something told me it meant something much more in this world. As for draining…I didn’t think I wanted to know.

The general reached in and drew out Aurelia’s hand for her, holding it gently in his own. Their eyes met, and suddenly I felt the need to look away. Two thousand years of companionship, of love, obviously made even the littlest thing
intimate. I remembered the way my father had looked at my mother. Always so hard and militaristic, my father had been the kind of man who you never saw smile. But when my mother walked into the room, everything about him softened. She was so completely his opposite in everything but her conviction and devotion to what she believed in. She was the bright day while he was the dark night. The one needed the other. I felt a tear build at the corner of my eye and quickly wiped it away.

Cade replaced the lid of the box, pressing down until it clicked in place. Aurelia looked paler than before. She lifted the general’s hand to her lips, kissed it, then excused herself, sweeping out of the room in an instant. The general sat himself in the chair she had occupied earlier.

Rhys had ceased his study of the painting and watched the other two men closely.

“Well, that’s it, then,” the general said, clasping his hands together in his lap. “They’ve made their move.”

“Years ago,” Cade said.

“Yes, well, killing Petri was the least of their intentions. It is simply a prelude. They knew taking him would make little difference in our everyday affairs.”

“If they wanted to do that they would have targeted one of us.”

“Indeed.”

Rhys cleared his throat. “Should we really be talking about this now?” I didn’t miss the quick gesture he threw in my direction.

The general looked at me, then shrugged one massive shoulder. “She’ll learn about it all eventually.”

“Now is not the best time,” Rhys said. “She has enough to think about.”

“Fine then.” The general clapped his hands against his thighs, then stood. “You teach her as you see fit. But don’t leave her completely in the dark, or more incidents like last night will happen.”

Last night? I wasn’t supposed to talk to Rhys about last night. Now the general just brought it up like it was nothing? I looked at Rhys, trying to gauge his reaction. All he did was nod. Nothing else. No glimmers of remembered pain, no uneasiness, no anything.

“I can handle it,” he said.

Handle what? I wanted to scream.

“Very well. Kassandra, one more thing before we part. Do you feel ready to mingle with humans?”

“No.” The word slipped out before I could think further.

The general paused in his steady steps. “No? I heard you were doing well.”

“I’ve managed not to kill Warren, but I haven’t really been surrounded by a large number of humans yet.”

“Nonsense. The house is full of humans and you didn’t even notice.” He smiled at me. “You can return to school within the week. Make sure any outstanding work is finished and ready to be handed in. Cade, if you would come with me please.”

He left the room faster than I could see, leaving me looking rather like a fish again. I could feel it in my face. It took real effort to close my mouth. Cade stopped in front of me on his way out the door. “Be ready,” he said. “I’ll test your reflexes again sometime today.” And then he left.

Great. An ambush to look forward to. This was turning out to be one of the best days of my life. I looked at Rhys and realized we were really and truly alone for the first time since the night before. No one to look over my shoulder, no one to enforce the promise I had made. But could I bring myself to ask him? I bit my tongue in order to squelch the impulse. I could get a few questions answered other ways. No need to make him relive anything.

I started on what I figured would be the safest ground. “Do I really have to go back to school?”

“I thought you would be happy about that. You’ll see your friends again.”

“I’ll eat my friends, you mean.”

“You’ll be fine. But Warren can go with you if that will make you feel better.”

I dropped my feet to the rug, leaning forward to better emphasize my skepticism. “And just how would you manage to enroll Warren in my school overnight?”

Rhys shrugged. “It’s been done before.”

I groaned. “Warren doesn’t have to come with me. He’ll just make me thirsty all day. It’ll be better if I ignore it altogether.” Then I had a thought. “Couldn’t you come with me?”

He glanced over his shoulder at me while taking down an old book from the lone shelf that stood to the left of the mantle. “Do I look like a high school student to you?”

“You’re only twenty.”

“I was very nearly twenty-one, actually.”

“Bet you weren’t as close to twenty-one as I was to eighteen.”

He smiled, just a bit. “No, I wasn’t. And I told you it would be perfectly reasonable for you to consider yourself eighteen.”

“Oh, I do. Believe me. But that’s not my point. You could pass as a student, it doesn’t matter that you were a grown man when you were turned. You look just like everyone else now.”

“I’m not going to school with you. I’ll walk you there, and that’s it.”

“I’ll have to attend gym class, and we go outside this time of year. The sunlight will send me into a feeding frenzy.”

“You can spend the next few days outside getting used to it.”

“Do you have an answer for everything?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll find a way to challenge that, you know.”

He flipped through the pages of the book. “I look forward to it.”

“What are you reading?” With Cade’s threat looming on the horizon of my life, I tested myself by jumping up from my chair and quickly making my way to Rhys’s side. The air whizzed past me, then stopped as instantly as I did. I took part in a little mental happy dance when I managed to not slam myself into either Rhys or the wall. I peeked over his shoulder.

“Poetry?” I didn’t recognize the particular poem that occupied the page he currently read, but I knew stanzas when I saw them.

“Yes. Sara Teasdale.”

“Teasdale?” I looked at the poem again. “I don’t know that one.” It was titled
Love and Death
.

“Lesser known, but no less good.”

I caught a glimpse of the date in the top corner. 1911. “Not too modern for you?”

“Just because I’m old doesn’t mean I don’t like modern things. In fact, I probably have a greater appreciation than you do because of my age.”

“Yeah, yeah, sure.” I pulled away and leaned against the bookcase so I could see him. “So, what were they all talking about before? When you told them to stop because of me.”

He shut the book and placed it back on the shelf right by my head, leaving his hand there and leaning in close. “Things you don’t need to concern yourself with just yet.”

“But I will eventually?”

“If you survive that long.”

“Oh, funny. You haven’t offed me yet. I don’t expect you to try any time soon.”

“How American of you.”

“Again with the jokes. I guess all Americans are cocky and sure of themselves, right?”

“That has been my experience, yes.”

“Then you must have noticed we’re pretty damned persistent, too.”

He rolled his eyes and backed away from me, walking across the room to where a small bar had been built into the opposite wall. “I can see this conversation will go where I don’t want it to, regardless. I suppose I asked for it with my comments.” He toyed with a bottle of sherry. “All right, get it over with.”

I couldn’t help but grin. I loved getting my way. Plus, now maybe I could find out something about what had happened to him the night before. “They mentioned what happened last night. Did that have something to do with the man, Petri, they were talking about?”

“For someone who complains about her observation skills, you seemed to have done well enough today.”

“It’s selective. Now answer my question.”

“The two are indirectly related, yes.”

“And what, exactly, happened last night? Besides a bad rendition of West Side Story, vampire-style.”

“You say the strangest things.”

“You’re not going to distract me, and you’re not going to drink that sherry, so leave it alone and focus.”

He tossed it at me. No warning. I cursed and scrambled to catch it. I managed to save it only inches from the carpet, two handed, and upside down. “Jerk,” I said. I stood and set the poor abused bottle on a small side table by one chair. “Don’t do that again.”

“At least you didn’t break it. On the ground or with your hands. Remember to be careful of that when you return to school. Humans are fragile.”

“You. Are. Stalling.” I folded my arms over my chest and waited.

Amusement played all over his face. Apparently I wasn’t the least bit intimidating. “Last night,” he said, “we ran into a rival family. They don’t have the same values as we do, nor do they agree with the ways of the Western Alliance.”

“Which is?” Warren had mentioned an alliance, but hadn’t explained.

“An organization of vampires, headed by the general, who for the most part believe the world works the way it is.”

That made no sense. I must have looked as confused as I felt, because Rhys elaborated. A bit. “We have laws, policies in place which we have followed for millennia. There are some vampires who would like to change the way things work. It’s all politics, Kassandra. Just like in the human world.”

“So there really is a vampire handbook?” I remembered my first day with Millie, and the rules she mentioned.

“More accurately a law book. Though there is a difference between our strict laws and the guidelines we put in place for general living.”

“And when do I have to learn all these?”

“There are very few vampire laws. The guidelines you’ll pick up as you go.”

“And when do I learn them?” As I broke them? Yeah, that would be a really good idea. Break the laws without even knowing. What kind of punishments did vampires have for crimes? What did natural killers consider a crime anyway?

“Finish high school first,” Rhys said. “Until then, I’m responsible for your actions since I turned you.”

“Wow. You trust me to be good that much, huh?”

“I don’t foresee the laws being an issue with you.”

“I’m going to take that as a compliment, even though I’m not sure it is one.” I paused for a moment, seeing if he would say anything else. Perhaps something about his sudden collapse. When he offered nothing, I pressed a little further. “So that’s it? Nothing else happened last night?”

“What else could have happened? You were there.”

So he really didn’t remember. I supposed it was possible he just didn’t want to talk about it, but if that were the case I would have expected him to be more evasive. Instead, I had simply confused him. I wondered what would happen if I asked him right out. But I had promised. And I didn’t want to cause him pain again.

I would find out though. I promised myself.

“I guess I just felt like checking.” I let my arms drop to my sides. “I mean, it all kind of happened so fast, and I’ll admit I was pretty much scared senseless. I had danger alarms going off in my head so loud I couldn’t really focus on anything else.”

“Then, if you’re done, we should head outside and get used to the sun some more.” He started towards the door.

“Just one more thing,” I said, feeling suddenly brave. “What’s in the box?” It had been left on the far table, and its soft wooden walls taunted me.

He stopped and looked back at me. His eyes dark, like something haunted him. “You don’t want to know.”

“Yes, I really do.” I wasn’t scared of much, and my curiosity would drive me nuts all day long if I didn’t get a good look.

“I’d prefer you didn’t.”

“That didn’t sound like an order.”

“I told you I wouldn’t do that. If you’re so sure you want to know, then go ahead and look.”

Despite the fact that his expression clearly stated the torment my decision caused him, I had to know. The dismemberment, the draining, it all added up to something. Something important, and I wanted to know what. Trying, for his sake, not to appear too eager I made my way over to the table with the box. This had to be more than just politics. Besides, how tame could vampire politics be? I didn’t care that they had once been human. I’d been a vampire for barely two weeks, but already my thinking had changed on a lot of things. I drank blood from a living human being, for crying out loud.

The wood box was light-colored, soft-looking. The lid joined the four walls flawlessly. You could have turned the thing on its side and never known which end was up had someone not stamped the word “confidential” across the top. Suddenly I felt very special. Either confidential was code for something else, or I was about to get a look at something few others would ever see. A surge of excitement rushed through my veins. Glancing back at Rhys one more time to make sure he hadn’t changed his mind, I gripped the edges of the lid and pulled.