Ignis (Book 2, Pure Series) (50 page)

           
"What do you mean?
 
Why couldn't Gleb enter the house?" I asked.

           
"Your mother sealed this house in a protective way—Galina told me about it.
 
If you don't believe me just look out the window."

           
I got out of bed and went to my window, pulling back the curtains.
 
Since my room was not on the side of the house that faced the street and the streetlamps, it was dark.
 
But I could just make out a figure standing in the back yard.

           
I stumbled back away from the window when I realized who the figure was.

           
It was Timofei Mstislav.

           
"Odette," I whispered.
 
"Timofei is out there."

           
"I know."

           
"You know?" I said.

           
"I know," Odette replied impatiently.
 
"That's why I told you to look."

           
"What are we going to do?" I asked.

           
Odette shrugged.
 
"Nothing.
 
I told you the house is safe.
 
You can go look at him again.
 
He won't come in."

           
I didn't really want to look at Timofei Mstislav again, but I had to see what was going on.

           
I crept back to the window and peered out.
 
Timofei was still standing in the back yard—he didn't appear to have moved.
 
I could see his eyes now—two tiny points of green flame in the dark.

           
He appeared to be staring fixedly at the back door.
 
White smoke twisted and swirled around him—it was very much like the trail given off by the usual kost, but as I watched the smoke move, I could see a difference.
 
The trail of an ordinary kost made sinuous, tortured, almost voluptuous patterns in the air.
 
The trail of the hybrid, while equally tortured, had an impossible linear quality to it—the smoke turned back in on itself at sharp angles, creating geometric shapes.
 
The bizarre way it twisted fascinated me, and I found myself watching it, entranced.

           
An impatient sound from Odette broke the spell, and I turned back to her.

           
"What is he doing there?" I asked.

           
"I believe he's waiting for you to come out.
 
He can't get into the house.
 
He can't even touch it.
 
Creatures of evil like vampires and kosts can't come in.
 
I could come in because I was part of your mother's original enchantment—I was one of the 'safe' people who could always come in.
 
In order to get you out to Gleb I had to get you out voluntarily.
 
You don't need to worry about Timofei right now—like I said, he can't get in."

           
I touched the charm William had given me.
 
"Why didn't my charm work?"

           
"What do you mean?" Odette asked.

           
"It's made of iron," I said.
 
"Iron is supposed to scramble the kost's senses.
 
It's supposed to keep him from following my trail."

           
"I don't think he had to follow your trail," Odette said.
 
"He saw you.
 
And he knows where you used to live in this town.
 
This house was likely to be the first place he would go to even if he hadn't seen you.
 
The kost is usually born with a strong desire for revenge—it will go after anything its host hated.
 
And Timofei Mstislav certainly hated you."

           
"Thanks," I said.

           
"It's just the truth," Odette replied.
 
"Besides, Timofei is a hybrid now—part kost, part vampire.
 
The senses of a kost are typically rather dull, apart from their sense of smell, but the senses of a vampire are terrifyingly sharp.
 
It's possible that iron has no effect on hybrids."

           
"So are GM and I trapped in this house?" I asked.
 
"You're fast—you might be able to get past him.
 
But the two of us will never get out with him standing guard over the door."

           
"Your grandmother should be fine," Odette replied.
 
"Timofei's not after her.
 
And in any event, he'll go after you first every time.
 
He won't even glance at her until you're gone."

           
"But doesn't he need to drink blood?" I asked.
 
"Wouldn't he attack her for that reason alone—even if I'm not around?"

           
"She's safe on that account, too," Odette said.
 
"They will have supplied him with blood.
 
The Werdulac's people have thought of everything.
 
Besides, Timofei will be gone at daybreak.
 
Like vampires and kosts, the hybrids don't like sunlight.
 
It won't kill them, but they are weak and sluggish during the day—it's the time when they're most vulnerable.
 
Timofei will seek shelter."

           
"Do you know where he will hide?" I asked.

           
"No," Odette said.
 
"And I suggest that you don't go looking for him.
 
I'm sure he'll be protected.
 
If you really want to help Annushka—and yourself—you should leave in the morning.
 
And you should convince Annushka to refuse to see her new gentleman caller."

           
Annushka was the name by which Odette knew GM, and as for her gentleman caller—

           
"Do you mean Maksim Neverov?"

           
"Yes."

           
"Why should GM stay away from him?"

           
"Because I've seen him in some strange places," Odette said.
 
"And because he's a Mstislav."

           
"Maksim's a Mstislav?" I asked incredulously.
 
"But he can't be—his last name is Neverov.
 
And he's the grandfather of a girl I know back home.
 
There's no way he's a Mstislav."

           
"It's entirely possible, because it's a fact," Odette said.
 
"Maksim's father was a Neverov.
 
His mother was a Mstislav."

           
I was stunned.

           
"Maybe it doesn't mean anything," I said.
 
"Just because Maksim's related to the Mstislavs doesn't mean he's like Gleb or Timofei."

           
"Perhaps not," Odette replied.
 
"But I would still advise you both to be careful."

           
I started to feel like I was sinking.
 
A resurrected dead man was waiting in my back yard, hoping to kill me.
 
A vampire was sitting at the foot of my bed.
 
And now my grandmother's sweetheart turned out to be related to the monster outside.

           
I sat down on my bed again.
 
I wished there was someone I could talk to.

           
"Do you know where Galina is?" I asked.

           
"Galina and Aleksandr both disappeared a few weeks ago.
 
I don't know where they went."

           
"What about the Leshi?"

           
"I haven't seen him since that night we were all in the Mstislav crypt," Odette said.
 
"He seems to have disappeared too.
 
I wish he would come back.
 
I know I said I wasn't very interested in him once, but I've found now that I miss him.
 
Or at least I think it's the Leshi that I miss.
 
I'm not entirely sure where Aleksandr ended and the Leshi began."

           
I was surprised to hear the mournful note in her voice.

           
"I think I saw him," I said.

           
Odette stared at me.
 
"The Leshi?"

           
"Yes—in Red Square.
 
He looked like Aleksandr, but his eyes were overbright like they were when the Leshi was impersonating him.
 
The Leshi told me once that you can always tell one of his disguises by the eyes.
 
I spotted him the crowd, and he ran off, so I followed him.
 
He led me to a back room in a museum, and then he disappeared completely.
 
But it was there in the museum that I stumbled across the icon of the Werdulac.
 
It was because of the Leshi that I found out the Werdulac's name.
 
I think he was trying to warn me."

           
"So he was trying to help you," Odette said bitterly.
 
"Just as I am here to help you.
 
Everyone is always trying to help you."

           
"Timofei Mstislav isn't trying to help me," I said.
 
"He's trying to kill me."

           
"That's true enough."
 
Odette gave me a sidelong glance.
 
"Just out of curiosity, how did you get out of the woods so quickly tonight?
 
Did the Leshi come for you?"

           
I blinked at her in surprise.
 
"No—it wasn't the Leshi.
 
You didn't see the horse?"

           
"I saw a white flash, and then you disappeared," Odette said.
 
"It was a good thing, too, because Timofei ran after you as soon as he was free of the ritual.
 
He surely would have caught you if you hadn't just vanished."

           
"That white flash was a horse," I said.
 
"I climbed onto its back, and it carried me home.
 
I don't know where it came from or where it went.
 
It was almost like I dreamed it."

           
"It was a nightmare," Odette said.

           
I looked at her in surprise.
 
She had spoken the last sentence in English.
 
"What did you say?"

           
Odette looked a little self-conscious.

           
"Was that not right?" she asked in Russian.
 
"I learned the English word 'nightmare,' and I thought I would make a play on words.
 
It was night, and you met a mare—or a horse, anyway—that seemed like a dream.
 
I thought the word fit."

           
"A nightmare," I said in English, before switching back to Russian.
 
"I see what you mean.
 
That's clever.
 
Where did you learn those words?"

           
"I've been studying English on my own.
 
I never had time for studies before," Odette said ruefully.
 
"I have nothing but time now."

           
"Have you ever heard anything about a horse like the one that helped me?" I asked.
 
"Do you know what it was?"

           
"It sounds like one of the creatures of the light that inhabit the Pure Woods," Odette said.
 
"After all, it did come to save you.
 
That's all I can tell you.
 
I know more about the creatures of the dark—that's really my area of expertise."

           
Unbidden, William suddenly came to mind.
 
One of the creatures of the dark—that's what he thought he was.
 
And he'd left me because he believed the curse could be lifted.
 
I hoped for his sake that such a thing was truly possible—I knew it was what he wanted most in all the world.

           
Odette also did not seem too happy with her current status, even though, unlike William, she'd actually chosen it.
 
I wondered if there was a way back for her too—if she wanted it.

           
"Odette, I heard that it was possible for a vampire to—"

           
I tried to choose my words carefully.
 
"To return to his previous state.
 
Is that possible?
 
Would it be possible for you?"