The Kingdom of the Nine; The Vampire Legacy IV (14 page)

“Tell me what you see!” Nick said, softly, in
my ear. I felt his breath on my face as he leaned close to me but I
was unable to see him, through the haze around my eyes. “Caitlyn,
you have to try. It's the only way.”

“I remember,” I started, struggling to get
the words out, “that night, I remember why I came here.” The warmth
spread through me as he sat down and held me close on his lap. I
placed my hand flat against his chest, feeling his heart beating.
“My father came to see me, which he did every six months or so, and
took me to a place close to here, to show me his new beach house. I
asked him why he couldn't take me; if he had so much money to waste
on a new house, why couldn't he take back something that was
supposed to mean more to him then money. He got mad and smacked me
across the face, then began to tell me about my mother, about how
worthless she was, and what a slut, and that's when I went after
him. I don't know where it came from, but I held a lamp in my hands
and I threw it at him, but it missed.”

I could feel the hot tears streaming down my
face as I told him my story, trying to keep the picture clear as I
went along.

“There were things that happened next, that
seem a little fuzzy, but I know that there was glass breaking and
fists flying, mainly towards me, and that’s when I had to get out,
when he had me pinned against the wall, his face close enough to
mine that all I saw was a blur and all I could think about was
Creolas and his advances.” I took in a deep breath and let it out,
slowly, feeling my lungs shudder as I did. “I thought I had killed
him when I slammed the wine bottle down over his head, but I didn't
care, I just wanted to get away, and I did. The first place I
thought of was the rocks, because of my recent thought of Creolas,
and I knew that my father would never find me there, and that's all
I remember. The rest is a blur, after leaving the house, but I do
remember waking up in this house, and seeing you, Quinn and Michael
standing around my bed, discussing the effects the blood you gave
me would have on me, but then I faded out again.”

Slowly, as my eyes cleared, I looked up into
his face and saw those brown eyes looking back at me. They looked
soft and full of emotions as he held me across his lap, close to
him. I reached up and touched his cheek, which made him close his
eyes and I could almost feel the desperate need to get away from my
touch, but he rested his head down against mine and closed his
eyes, tighter.

“You're the third.” I whispered to him, and
then felt him nod. “You do realize that, don't you?”

“I've known for several years now.” He
whispered back. “I've also had my suspicions that there was someone
else involved, like you suggested to Julian last night.”

“You were spying on me?” I asked, smiling,
but I closed my eyes and just listened to him breathing.

“I watched you leave your room, alone.” He
answered. “And, you know how I am by now.”

“Yes, always the protector.” I whispered, and
then felt the sudden grogginess that you usually feel after a good
cry and slowly, I drifted to sleep in his arms.

It seemed like only minutes, but it must have
been awhile later that I opened my eyes, just a bit, to see that I
was sitting on the floor in Nick's arms, and I could tell by the
slow, evenness of his breathing that he, too, was asleep. I closed
my eyes, not yet ready to move from my comfortable spot, and
relaxed again, but that was when I heard the footsteps in the
room.

“What the hell?” Julian's voice sounded
confused and I'm sure he was, by the scene that the two of us
created, asleep on the floor in a secluded room. I could feel Nick
shake as Julian kicked his foot. “Hey! Hey, Nick!” I felt Nick stir
and his head lifted from mine, but I kept my eyes closed to see
what was going to happen between them. Nick let out a breath; close
to my ear and, I'm assuming, he looked up at Julian. “What the hell
do you think you’re doing?”

“Keep your voice down, she's still sleeping.”
Nick ordered and I tried not to act to surprised when he stood,
lifting me up with him and brought me over to one of the large
chairs, which he set me down in.

I felt him place the throw over me and hear
him move towards Julian. I opened my eyes, knowing that they would
be too preoccupied with themselves to know I was watching and I saw
Nick walk by Julian without a word. This seemed to be their
downfall, that they were such rivals that they couldn't come to
terms with the fact that they had to work together, but then I
watched him stop, just passed Julian's right side and he stood up
straight. Julian, shocked by the sudden actions of his cousin,
turned a bit to look at Nick.

“She asked me about our link.”

“So.” Julian replied, and I heard Nick sigh,
then pause, as if debating on whether to attempt to continue or
not.

“I told her what I knew, and then she broke
down.” Nick turned to Julian, looking him in the eyes. “She almost
fainted, and needed help to get passed it.”

“I suppose you helped her.” Julian replied,
crossing his arms.

“I tried.” He sighed, and put his hands on
his hips. “I'm not going to hurt her, Julian; I wish you would see
that.” But, I think the fact that Nick called him by his name and
didn't just refer to him as his cousin made Julian stop and think.
“I'm here to protect her from whatever it is that's coming back and
you know that it is.”

“She doesn't remember all of what happened
that night, and it better not be your intention to remind her.”
Julian snarled.

“If you don't remember, Julian, I was there
that night, and I almost lost her, too. If I could forget it, I
would but I can't and just like you, I've felt every ounce of pain,
every second of the day, since she left.” Nick said, shaking his
head. “I'm not going to remind her; in fact, I'm not even going to
mention it.”

“Well, somebody better think about telling me
something.” I said, sitting up on the chair. Both of them looked
over at me as I pushed the throw off and stood. “You're male
bonding is great and all, and I'm glad you’re getting along, but I
have a memory in my head that doesn't have an ending, or an
explanation, and right now, I think, is the right time for
both.”

“You're wrong.” Nick whispered. I walked over
and stood near them. “You need more time to let your memories catch
up with you before you hurt your mind with that one.”

“I agree.” Julian spoke up and I looked back
and forth between them.

“Suddenly, you're both going to gang up on
me?” I asked, and then smiled, knowing that it was better for them
to be agreeing on something than ripping each other's throats out.
“Okay, since the two of you want to be this way, I'll drop it for
now, but when I decide to talk about it, the three of us are going
to have a talk.”

“Fine.” Nick agreed, nodding, then turned and
walked out of the room. I moved to look directly at Julian, and he
reached out to hold me, but I backed away a bit.

“What?” He questioned.

“Nick is our third, his eyes are brown.” I
replied. Julian shrugged, then thought about it a moment before he
looked back down at me.

“So, now all we have to do is find our
fourth.” He answered. “There was something I've been thinking
about.”

“Yeah, me too, and it's about Larado.” I
walked over and sat down on the chair that I had been sitting in.
“There's something not right about this whole thing.”

* * * * *

“Um, excuse me, do you mind if I interrupt?”
Ashley spoke up, disrupting my train of thought. I looked over at
her, and smiled, or at least I tried to smile. I was beginning to
see why Quinn thought she was such a pain in the ass. I gestured to
her, to ask whatever it was that was on her mind. “This is all
beginning to sound like witchcraft.”

“I'm glad you agree, because that's exactly
what it was.” I replied and looked over at Julian, who was looking
up at the door. I turned and looked over at Robert, who was
standing there, smiling. “Robert, I'm sorry if we woke you up.”

“I didn't realize that you had company.” He
smiled and walked over to Julian, who stood when he came over.
Robert stuck out his hand. “Julian, good to see you again. I hope
my wife's not slacking off at work.”

“No, actually, we're here for a different
reason, but it's good to see you again.” Julian replied,
pleasantly. As the two men shook hands, I glanced over at Ashley,
who watched the two of them. “Robert, this is Ashley Wolf, my, um,
girlfriend. She's interested in your wife's extra-curricular
activities.”

“Oh, another one involved in the
supernatural.” Robert laughed and smiled at Ashley. “You've come to
the right place. Caitlyn is an expert on things that don't exist.
Vampires seem to be her favorite.” I shot a glance at Robert,
scolding him with my eyes. “Oh, sorry, I hope I haven't offended
you.”

“Not at all.” Ashley replied, and smiled,
awkwardly in my direction. “Actually, I'm a writer, myself, and her
knowledge of vampires is amazing. Julian thought it might help me,
in my work, to meet her. I'm sorry if we were too loud in our
discussions.”

“No, you weren't. In fact, I barely heard a
peep. It was the alarm clock that woke me up.” Robert smiled.

“Alarm clock?” I asked, and then glanced at
the time piece on the mantel. “My God, it's quarter of five.” I
looked at my two guests and smiled. “I guess time really does fly.
I have to bring Robert to the airport for six, so, I'm afraid I'm
going to have to cut this short, so, I can get Damien up and
ready.”

“I'll stay with him.” Julian smiled. Robert
looked over at him, then back at me. “Really, I don't mind. There's
no sense waking him up, just to put him in a car. You can let him
sleep in.”

“That's very nice of you, Julian...” I
started, getting ready to protest, when Robert smiled and
nodded.

“I think it's a great idea.” He answered,
which made me look his way, and then I shrugged.

“I'll go home then, and you can meet me
there.” Ashley added, looking at Julian, who nodded, and then she
looked at me. “We'll finish talking later.”

“All right.” I answered, and then watched
Robert leave the room to finish getting ready to leave. I walked
Ashley to the door and she stopped me. “Thank you for going along
with us.”

“He doesn't have a clue about what you really
are does he?” She asked, in a whisper. I shook my head and
sighed.

“I tried to tell him once before, but he just
didn't understand what I was trying to tell him.” I smiled. “It's
just better this way, sometimes my “clients” are very protective of
their secret and his ignorance makes them feel more comfortable
being in my house.”

“Maybe, we can finish our discussion tomorrow
night.” She smiled and looked passed me at Julian, who stood,
smiling in our direction, in the doorway to the den. I looked back
at him, unable to smile back, and then I looked at Ashley, again.
“Good night.”

I nodded to her, watched her get in her car
and drive away before I closed the door and walked into the room
with Julian. He looked up at me from the fireplace and sighed, his
green eyes seemed so full of emotions that it was hard to tell what
he was feeling.

“So, what do you think?” He asked.

“Of Ashley or this whole mess?” I questioned
as I walked over to him, with my arms crossed. Julian rolled his
eyes, sighed loudly, and then looked back at me. “If you’re looking
for my approval, Julian, I'm not sure if I can give it.”

“Well, that's kind of selfish, don't you
think?” He replied, sourly.

“It's nothing to do with who she is as a
person, Jules, but I know her track record with you, with how many
times she's hurt you, do you really think I'm going to say that I
want to see you with her, because, honestly, I don't.” I replied.
Julian rubbed his forehead and looking thoughtfully at the mantel,
as he leaned against it. Robert stepped into the doorway, holding
my coat. I looked over at him, glanced back at Julian, and turned
to go. “We'll finish this when I get back.”

12

It was close to seven when I entered the
house, and that's when I noticed how quiet it was. I searched the
lower half of the house for Julian, but didn't find him anywhere.
It wasn't until I topped the stairs that I saw him walking out of
Damien's room. He looked up at me and smiled, half-heartedly, and
then he moved towards me, meeting me at the end of the railing. He
looked down at me and shrugged, holding on to one of Damien's many
teddy bears.

“He had a nightmare.” Julian whispered. I
nodded and looked down the stairs as the two of us turned and made
our way to the living room. Julian stood there, at the end of the
couch as I slipped my coat off and draped it over a dining room
chair, then walked by him, brushing against him as I passed. I
looked down at my fingers for a moment, then sighed and turned to
look at him.

“I'm sorry.” I whispered, shrugging. “It was
rude of me to say those things to you about Ashley.”

“You're entitled.” He replied.

“No, I'm not.” I told him, quickly. Julian
stepped closer to me and watched me fidget as I stood there under
his gaze. “I'm selfish, like you said, because I can sit here and
keep telling her that there's no way we can love each other,
because of Robert and Damien, and then turn and tell you that I
don't want you with her because of the way I feel about you. It's
stupid to think that I should have you all to myself when I'm not
even available for you to be with.”

“Ashley can't stop how we feel.” Julian
smiled at me. I turned to look away from what I saw in his eyes,
but I couldn't as he moved, even closer to me. “Can she?” He
whispered, standing less than a foot away. “Because, I love you
just as much now as I did then.”

“You can't, Julian, you should think about
your future!” I answered. “You should be with Ashley, and you
should start thinking about not loving me. It's going to get you in
trouble.”