Haven (30 page)

“What do you think, that when I leave a victim lying on the street, I leave the puncture marks visible? Imagine the panic that would cause,” he said with a laugh.

“But . . . but I saw the marks you left on that junkie’s neck,” I stammered.

“I fixed those while you were passed out cold on the sidewalk.”

“You mean just left me lying there, and—”

“It only took me a few seconds, I promise.”

I just stood there, blinking in confusion, more afraid than I wanted to admit.

“Please don’t be frightened of me, Violet. I can bear just about anything but that. Come here.” Again he reached for my hand, and this time I let him take it. He pulled me back to the bed and made me sit.

Kneeling before me, he gently pushed up the legs of my bloodstained khaki capris—my favorite little Abercrombie & Fitch lowriders, ruined now—till my knees were exposed.

“Maybe you shouldn’t watch,” he said, looking up, his eyes meeting mine. His weren’t red, thank God, so I guessed I was safe. Still, I could see hunger in his gaze—something that looked a little like lust, and a shudder worked its way down my spine.

What is he going to do to me?
I had no clue, but whatever it was, my eyes were staying open.

“Okay,” he said, his voice deeper, rougher than usual. “But don’t say I didn’t warn you.” He smiled then, a slow, sexy smile, and I watched in horror as his canine teeth elongated, if only slightly.

And then his tongue came out of his mouth, and he licked my wounds—literally. Once, twice his tongue made slow, soft strokes against my bloody, raw skin. Goose bumps erupted all over me, and it was all I could do to sit still. I clamped my mouth shut, grinding my teeth, trying to keep from making a sound.

Whatever he was doing, it felt like nothing I’d ever experienced before, and I didn’t want him to stop—
ever.
He finished with my right knee and moved to my left, repeating the slow, sensuous licks before he reached for my hands and did the same to my hypersensitive palms. Every once in a while he’d pause and glance up at me questioningly, as if he were testing my response. The look in his eyes—the heat, the tenderness, all blended into something indescribable—stole away my breath. By the time he finished, I was reduced to a quivering mass on the bed, panting and squirming.

“Are you okay?” he asked softly, rising from his knees and sitting beside me on the bed. “Do you need to lie down?”

Yeah, I do
.

“Here,” he said, lifting me up and laying me back against the pillow. I closed my eyes and took a deep, calming breath.

“I hope I didn’t hurt you.”

I glanced down at my knees, at my hands, and gasped. The blood was gone, the scrapes were gone. Everything was just . . .
gone. My skin looked perfect, totally unblemished. As if nothing had happened.

“Okay, love,” he said, brushing back a stray lock of hair from my flushed cheek. “Now you’ve got to tell me what happened.”

Taking a deep, steadying breath, I told him.

“And that’s everything?” he asked, lying beside me now, his arm tucked around me, my cheek resting on his chest—I could hear the faint thump-thump of his heart, his vampire heart, pumping the infected blood throughout his body. “Nothing else?”

“Nothing else. And then there was that weird reaction afterward, like the vision kept trying to suck me back into it, but couldn’t quite do it. That’s never happened before.”

“That almost frightens me more than the vision itself,” Aidan said.

I took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly, trying to calm my racing heart. “The next all-school assembly is Friday. Five days from now,” I clarified. “It’s coming, Aidan. Whatever it is, it’s coming.”

“It would seem that way.”

I bit my lower lip, steeling myself for what I knew I must say. “We’ve got to tell them. There’s no other way.”

“Tell who?”

“My friends. Cece and Sophie and Kate and Marissa. All of them. We need them. Maybe Jack, too.”

“We can’t tell them, Violet. It’s impossible for me to do so. It’s against the laws of my kind.”

“You told me about Blackwell,” I shot back.

“Yes, and I paid a price for it.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, an uncomfortable lump in my throat.

“I was sent to the Tribunal for that little slip,” he answered, his voice hard. “I suppose it was Blackwell himself who turned me in.”

“The tribunal? Like a vampire court or something?”

“Something like that, except there’s no pleading your case. Punishments are simply handed down. My sentence was three days of torture.”

“They . . . they tortured you?” I stammered, my stomach lurching uncomfortably.

He just shrugged.

“What did they do to you? I . . . I thought it was impossible to hurt you.”

“My body will heal itself when injured,” he explained. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t feel pain. Especially when an . . . injury . . . is repeated over and over again, every time it
does
heal.”

Hate and revulsion welled up inside of me. More than anything, I wanted to harm the vampires who had harmed Aidan.

But this was a war, and we needed an army. “Well, there aren’t any laws preventing
me
from telling them,” I said. “Are there? Would you be held accountable if I did?”

“No,” he answered. “I wouldn’t. I guess you could call that a loophole.”

Thank God. “We need their help, then.”

“What are you suggesting?” he asked.

“A plan, that’s what. With everyone’s gifts combined, we can turn the tables on Julius and his allies. Lead them into our own trap.”

“Blackwell would never allow—”

“Blackwell is the enemy, remember?”

“But according to your vision, he’ll protect you. He won’t let them harm you.”

“Even if that’s true, what about you?”

“Your safety has its price,” he said somberly.

I shoved myself up to a sitting position. “No way. You’re not going to . . . to . . .
sacrifice
yourself for me, Aidan. Forget it.”

“I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you safe, Violet,” he said, his voice suddenly hoarse. “I’ve already stood by once, watching helplessly as a woman I cared for lost her life in my stead. It won’t happen again. I won’t let it. If taking my life will save
your own, then I must have your word that you’ll do it. I’ve taught you how.”

I hit him then, on the chest. Hard, though he didn’t even flinch. Again I struck him. “No, you hear me? I won’t do it!”

In a flash he’d captured my wrists and was holding them immobile in his grasp. His head ducked down toward mine, his blue-gray gaze steady and firm. “Yes, Violet. You will. You must.”

I swallowed hard, trying desperately to slow my breathing, to steady my heart. “It won’t come to that. Not if you let my friends help us. I’m telling them everything, tonight.”

“They’ll think you’re mad. You realize that, don’t you?”

I shook my head. “No, they won’t. And when Julius shows up here on Friday, we’ll be ready. All of us. If I’m taking out any vampires, it’s them.”

Immediately he released me. “You don’t know what you’re saying. You have no idea what kind of danger you’re putting yourself in.”

“How is asking for help any more dangerous than facing them alone, Aidan? Explain that to me. We’re sitting ducks either way.”

“Not necessarily,” he said, his eyes glittering. “You’ve foreseen the future, but we can thwart it. We can leave; we can disappear before Friday comes. If we’re not here, there’s no way it can happen as you saw it.”

“What, and run forever? If we don’t face them now, they’ll just come after us.”

He shook his head. “If Patsy hadn’t gotten in that cab, she wouldn’t have been in the accident. If your father hadn’t gone to Afghanistan, he might very well still be alive. At least, that’s what you’ve always believed, isn’t it? Didn’t you save Lupe from falling on the ice and breaking her hip?”

“This is different and you know it. Julius is after you, and Blackwell is helping him. That’s not going to stop just because we’re not around on Friday.”

Aidan raked a hand through his hair. “Very well. You win. Tell your friends. Still, I believe that everything will happen as you saw it. I must have your word that if Julius has me and the only way to save yourself is to put that stake through my heart, then you goddamn better do it, do you hear me?”

I’d never seen him so fierce. “You have my word,” I said, my voice a whisper. After all, it wouldn’t come to that. It couldn’t.

“Then go,” he said, rising from the bed. “There’s not much time before curfew. Tell my story, and see if anyone believes it.”

I took his hand and rose to stand beside him. “Don’t be angry, Aidan.”

“I’m not angry,” he said, though it was pretty obvious that he was. “Just promise me you’ll stay away from Blackwell, okay?”

“What about anthropology class?”

“Just keep your thoughts protected.”

I nodded, hoping he was right, hoping that Blackwell couldn’t tell exactly what we were plotting.

“C’mon, I’ll walk you as far as the East Hall lounge. Or should I take you there by other means? Much quicker, you know.”

I shook my head. “I think I’ve had enough excitement for one night. Let’s walk, okay?”

“You sure? How are those knees and hands?”

“They feel perfect, as if nothing ever happened to them.” As soon as the words left my lips, something he’d said earlier struck me like a ton of bricks. “Wait, you said you took the elixir today. That’s the only way you could stand being near me, with the blood and all that.”

“That’s right,” he said. “What about it?”

“But . . . but doesn’t that weaken
all
the effects of vampirism? Not just the hunger?”

He shook his head. “No. Even immediately after taking it, I’m stronger and faster than any human, and as you just saw, my healing capabilities remain unaffected, as do most of my psychic abilities. But yes, I’m somewhat compromised, far weaker than I would be otherwise.”

I took a deep breath. “And how long did you say before it usually wears off?”

“About two weeks,” he answered dully, and I knew then that he had already realized what was just beginning to dawn on me.

Five days.
We had five days till Julius and his merry gang showed up, bent on vengeance, and Aidan’s full range of powers wouldn’t return for two weeks!

Still, my mind reasoned, even in his weakened state he could move faster than any human I’d ever seen, and with a few flicks of his tongue, he could totally heal some nasty scrapes and cuts.

But . . . if those were the powers of a weakened vampire, then what exactly were his enemies capable of?

We needed my friends and their combined powers, and we needed them badly. All I had to do was convince them.

Y
eah, that’s real funny, Violet,” Sophie said, a scowl on her face. “Why’d you call us all in here if you’re not even going to tell us what’s really going on?”

I sighed heavily, mentally exhausted from pouring out the whole story to them. “I
am
telling you what’s going on. I know it sounds crazy, but—”

“C’mon, Violet, vampires?” Kate’s voice was laced with sarcasm. “I mean, you really expect us to believe that?”

“Trust me, I thought it was just as crazy as you do. But . . . I’ve seen proof. And my visions—”

“Proof?” Sophie asked. “What kind of proof?”

“Remember when I got the weekend pass to visit my
stepmother? Well, I never made it to her apartment. I ended up in a dark alley instead, where a junkie attacked me. Aidan . . . well, he saved me. Trust me, I saw him in action that night and if there was any doubt left in my mind, that got rid of it real fast. I know if you really think about what I’m telling you, it’ll all make sense.”

I looked around at my friends’ faces, hoping to see some sign of belief, of trust. Instead, all I saw was skepticism, even annoyance.

“Anyway, there’s more,” I continued, figuring I might as well just get it all out there. “It turns out that I’m some sort of vampire slayer, something called a
Sâbbat
. That’s why Aidan and I can speak telepathically.”

“Oh my God, she’s lost her mind,” Kate muttered. “He’s brainwashed her or something.”

“Even if there
were
vampires—even if they really existed— you think Dr. Blackwell would allow them here? At Winter-haven?” Sophie asked. “I mean, his gifts are pretty strong. I think he’d know if there were vampires masquerading as students, don’t you?”

“Oh, Blackwell knows, all right,” I said, nodding. “Considering he
is
one.”

They all started talking at once.

“Shh,” Cece said, quieting them. “Let’s hear her out, okay?”

So I continued on. I told them about Julius, about his sect of Propagators, about my recurring vision, about Dr. Blackwell’s involvement. “So we’ve only got till Friday, but the elixir has weakened Aidan; he won’t be at full strength by then. Which is why we need you. All of you. With everyone’s gifts combined, we can set a trap for them.”

Kate stood up. “Okay, I think I’ve heard just about enough of this crap. What did he do, drug you or something? Is that what he does in the chem lab—manufacture mind-altering drugs?”

“I saw him once, just outside the window,” Cece whispered, sounding slightly dazed. “I thought I must have imagined it.”

“That’s crazy,” Sophie said, shaking her head. “You’re on the fifth floor.”

Kate folded her arms, glaring at me. “What, next you’re going to tell us he can fly?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know what he does. But he can somehow carry me across campus in . . . well, in a matter of seconds. I’m not sure if he’s just moving really fast or somehow teleporting or what.”

“He
does
move quickly,” Sophie said, chewing on her thumbnail. “Even I’ve noticed that. It’s like he’s there one minute, and gone the next. I always thought it was kind of freaky.”

Feeling like I was finally getting through to them, I went on. “And you know that thing you call the Aidan effect? It’s really just nature’s way of drawing prey to him. Making him seem more attractive than he really is, sort of weakening your reflexes around him. Not that he would ever hurt any of you,” I added quickly. “Because he wouldn’t.”