Mirror: Book One of the Valkanas Clan (7 page)

“Alright, if you say—” I was interrupted by the sound of shattering glass, and then a high-pitched scream.

“Valerie!” Tom ran for the door,
then
spun abruptly. “Lock this door behind me. If anyone breaks in, hit them with the silver nitrate—it’s in that bottle in the china cabinet. It won’t kill
them,
it will just knock them unconscious for half an hour. Just be careful not to splash any on yourself.”

“Why don’t you take it then?”

He was halfway up the stairs already. “Too risky in a group—lock that door!”

And then I was alone in a room that looked like it had been decorated by an Anne Rice wannabe, curled up on the couch with a bottle of liquid silver, staring at the door. I heard wood splintering, a muffled grunt, and then the sound of something heavy hitting the floor directly above my head. My hand clenched tighter around the bottle, the glass edges digging into my palm. A few seconds later, after the whispered sound of light feet moving fast on wooden floors, there were another two thumps from further away. I got up and began pacing again in the narrow strip between the couch and the china cabinet, keeping my eye on the door.

And then I heard steps on the stairs.
OhshitOhshitOhshit
.
I wrapped my hand around the neck of the bottle, prepared to fling it the second the door opened. I heard the click of the tumblers shifting, and then a dark-haired head peered around the doorway. All he had the chance to say was “Alyson?” before the bottle hit him in the face, shattering, and he dropped to the floor.

I shrunk back against the wall. I’d sensed four of them; what if another one made its way down the stairs? I hadn’t seen any more silver nitrate, and I suspected my eight weeks of self-defense training weren’t likely to stand up against whoever had made Valerie scream like that. I pushed myself further against the wall, wondering if I could somehow will myself into invisibility the way I’d willed Ava into believing my atrocious lie.
Be invisible, be invisible, be invisible
, I chanted to myself, feeling ridiculous and desperately hopeful simultaneously.

“Luis? Luis, did you find Alyson?” It was Damian’s voice, coming from the top of the stairs and getting closer. At least he was okay. My shoulders slowly relaxed. “Luis, what happened? Is she okay? Oh—” his voice cut off abruptly, and his feet stopped. “Alyson, are you in there? Did you throw silver at Luis?”

I could feel my face reddening. Oh yeah, I was definitely shaping up to be quite the super-heroine. “Um, I didn’t know who he was, and Tom told me to…sorry,” I trailed off.

To my surprise, Damian simply laughed. What was with these guys? I was starting to wonder if they valued me primarily as a source of amusement.

“No,
it’s
fine, he’ll just wake up with a bit of a hangover. Thomas didn’t tell me he’d shown you the bottled silver, but I should have guessed. None of us should go near the area until it’s dried completely, though, just to be safe. I’ll send someone down with some towels.”

I slid down to the floor, relieved. Surely Damian couldn’t have sounded so casual if Valerie had been seriously injured. A few minutes later I heard Tom’s voice calling “heads up” and a couple towels sailed into the room.

“Toss those onto any wet spots on your side and I’ll handle the stairs. Try to get any spots on Luis, too, if you can reach him safely—it might help to lessen his headache later on.”

“Got it.”
I swiped one towel across the splatters on the floor and draped the other over Luis, careful not to let any of the damp creep to my skin. I’d just finished when Tom stuck his head around the door.

“Don’t shoot, I come in peace,” he said, holding his hands in the air.

“Are you usually this frightened by unarmed women?”

“Nope, just you.”
Tom grinned.

“I take it Valerie wasn’t hurt badly then?”

Tom rolled his eyes. “Trust her to scream bloody murder because someone broke her favorite antique mirror. After that, they were pretty much toast—Valerie is
not
someone I recommend ticking off.”

I couldn’t imagine screaming like that over a mirror; she must really take her shopping seriously. I made a mental note not to scuff up any of their furniture.

“So who were they?”

“We’re not sure, but Damian suspects they were here for you; he’s questioning one of them now to be certain.”

Tom reached his hand out to help me over Luis as he said this, but I hesitated. I wasn’t sure I wanted to go upstairs and confront the sight of dead bodies and Damian torturing someone, even if he had attacked us.

“I’m sorry” I stopped, unsure what I was trying to say. “I was just a disorganized lit professor with a knack for knowing who was calling me a few days
ago,
and now…” I shook my head, staring at the floor. “I guess I’m not handling this as well as I’d thought. What the hell is going to happen to my life? How can I carry on teaching and writing articles as if nothing has changed? What if someone notices something? What if some other vampire comes after me in the middle of class, with a room full of students watching? If I was the cause of one of my students getting hurt, I could never forgive myself.” I clenched my fists, oddly comforted by the pain of my fingernails digging into my palm.

Tom stepped over Luis carefully, and picked up my right hand. Slowly he uncurled my fingers, one by one. Then, watching my face carefully, he brought my hand to his mouth, gently kissing each of the pale crescents my nails had carved. My arm trembled and my skin went from fire to ice and back again. My other hand slowly uncurled
on its own,
and I took a step forward, until my head was only inches from his chest.

“We’ll figure it out,” he said. I wasn't sure why, but I believed him.

“So you’re the one I can blame for having to listen to Luis whine and complain for the next day or two, huh?” The newest vampire had mahogany hair, hazel eyes, and a faint accent I couldn’t yet place.

“I take it you’re Samuel?”

“At your service.”
He bowed, swirling his hand in a mock courtly gesture. “But I hope you’re not as formal as Damian—you can just call me Sam.”

I nodded while glancing around the room. I was surprised to see that, other than an empty picture hook on the wall, there was no sign the room had just held a massive fight. What it did hold, however, was an impressive amount of open and tastefully decorated space. The mix of couches, chairs, and small tables, combined with the open access to the kitchen, made me fairly certain that Damian and Valerie did a lot of entertaining in this spot. Valerie walked back in just as I’d finished my sweep of the room, looking mildly perturbed.

“I heard about your mirror. Sorry,” I said.

“Whatever for?
You didn’t invite those tasteless idiots into our home.”

“I know, but Tom mentioned they were probably here because of me.”

Valerie waved her hand as if swatting a fly. “Better here than at your place, if that’s the case. And there’s no point speculating when Damian will have the truth of it soon enough.”

I grimaced at the reminder that someone was presumably being tortured nearby.

“How,” I paused. “Not that I want to know the details—I don’t—but how will you know the information he gets is the truth, rather than just something made up to stop the pain?”

“The pain?”
Valerie looked at me. “Oh, he’s not torturing her. He’s seducing her. Like most young vamps, she doesn’t have the resistance you displayed earlier—she’ll tell him anything he wants to know.”

Ugh—somehow that was more unpleasant than the thought of torture. I was doubly glad for my resistance now.

“And you’re okay with this?” I asked.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” she laughed. “We’ve been together for almost a century. Possessiveness becomes,
mmm
, impractical after that long. Especially in situations like this, when his talent is so useful.”

I shook my head. I couldn’t imagine ever being that nonchalant about a lover, but then again, I’d yet to have a relationship last longer than a year or two. A hundred years seemed unfathomable to me.

“Open relationships aren’t my style either, in case you’re wondering,” Tom whispered from directly behind me, and I flashed back to his light kisses on my palm, blushing when I noticed Valerie arching her eyebrow and Sam clenching his jaw.

“Well, well, Delaney’s interested in the fresh meat, what a surprise. Do you think she’ll manage to keep your attention longer than the last one?” Sam said, slapping Tom on the shoulder.

Tom's arm swung at him, but Sam stepped out of the way. My blush intensified, and I stepped away from them quickly.
Fresh meat?
That metaphor had never been a favorite of mine, but under the circumstances it seemed especially foul. And I wasn’t sure I could even handle being a vampire just yet, much less dating one—and one who was still technically my student, I reminded myself firmly, taking another step away.

“I think I’d like to head back home now; I’m pretty tired,” I said.

“Of course,” Valerie said. “Tom, would you mind giving her a ride back? Sam and I have a few things to discuss.” She glared at Sam. “And I imagine Damian is still occupied.”

Occupied, huh? I guess that was one way to put it.

“Are you sure she should even go home tonight? That’s the second attack in as many days,” Tom said.

“
Hm
, fair point.”
Valerie tapped her perfectly manicured finger on her chin,
then
turned to me. “Would you consider making yourself our guest for a bit longer
Aly
? I keep a few guest rooms made up anyway, and I know Damian would be happy for you to stay here.”

I weighed the comfort of home against the fear of being attacked again. It would be nice not to jump at every noise…but Beckett hated being alone, and I could never forgive myself if someone hurt him because I wasn’t there.

“I appreciate your offer, Valerie,” I said. “Believe
me,
I’m in no rush to get myself killed—”

“Again,” Sam said, grinning. I rolled my eyes.

“But I’d really like to be at home,” I said. “If it’s any reassurance, I have a feeling everything will be fine for the rest of the night.”

I said it without even really thinking about it, but after poking around inside my head for a moment I realized I did actually feel that way.
Interesting.
I was used to the feeling of a short term warning—that icy trickle, one that now apparently came with a few more details than it had when I was human—but this sensation of certain safety was a new one.

“That’s good enough for me,” Valerie said. “See you tomorrow?”

I nodded, and Valerie turned, with a gesture to Sam, and walked out of the room. Tom opened his mouth as if to say something, and then snapped it shut, his forehead wrinkling. He spun on his heel and marched out in a different direction than the one Valerie and Sam had followed. When I heard the jingle of keys, I realized my ride was about to disappear, and I jogged after him.

“What are you so pissed about?” I asked when I caught up.

“Nothing,” he said. He held the front door open for me,
then
locked it behind us.

“Could’ve fooled me.”

“You’re one to talk.”

“And just what’s that supposed to mean?”

He stopped trotting down the steps and turned, stiffly, to look at me.

“Just that I don’t appreciate being lied to,” he said.