The Last Keeper (42 page)

Almost.

I wasn’t cruel, and I didn’t remove those memories of her brother completely. Once they were gone it was almost impossible to bring them back.
 

It was simple enough to make her
think
she’d forgotten him. She would know she had a brother, but beyond that, it would be gone. When the influence I wielded faded, she would be able to remember.
If
I let her.
If
she’d proven she’d changed.

Until then, she wouldn’t be able to recall his face or the way he held her when she was scared during those dark nights in the Russian mountains.
 

“If I ever see any of you near my family again, I will take what each of you hold closest to your hearts. I will not hesitate, and I will not forgive. You’ve had too many chances. I will not give you any more.”

There was no reason to stay any longer. The message had been delivered. Kiros was reeling from seeing into my mind, as were the others who had dared to look. Elena was broken, still coming to terms with the loss of her most heartfelt memories.
 

I raced through the tunnels, desperate to see Lizzy again, to make sure she was well. The vampire bite shouldn’t have affected her, but there was no way to know. It wasn’t known whether our descendants were immune to being turned or if the healing properties in a vampire’s saliva would have any effect on them.
 

Both of the cars were gone when I emerged. It was dark, which surprised me. By my count it had only been a couple of hours. The sun should have been rising in the sky, but it had already set.
 

“You got out alive,
human?
”
 

Of course there was someone waiting for me. It would’ve been far too easy for them to just let me go.
 

“No
human
walks out of the catacombs,” I reminded him, watching carefully in case he decided to strike.

“I know that better than anyone.” He smirked, licking his lips slightly.

“If you value your life, you’ll let me pass.”

“Let her pass,” another voice called from the shadows.

“Yes, mistress.”

What the . . . ?

“Serenity. It is good to see you again.”
 

“Do I want to know why you have vampires calling you mistress, Georgianna?”

“I thought you might like to know why I’m here. I’d rather you heard it from me than from anyone else.” She stepped out from a hidden recess, head held high.
 

The vampire slipped into the entrance, ignoring the pair of us as though we weren’t there.
 

“What is going on?”

“How do you think young Lizzy was captured? Do you know how they found her at your home? How they knew nothing of my grandson being a Were?”
 

“You! You handed over your own
grandson
to The Seats?” I said, outraged. “How could you do that? They could’ve killed them both!”

“They wouldn’t have harmed them,” she promised. “It is well within my power to ensure their safety.” And no doubt she was the reason Kiros couldn’t read their minds.
 

“Does he know? Does your
son
know?”

“You cannot tell them.”

“You ask too much of me.”

“I owe you my life a hundred times over. I’m not asking anything of you; I know you will do what is right.” She knew me far too well.
 

“And if I don’t?”

“Do you think, as old as I am, that I cannot see your future?”

“Pull a stunt like this again and you’ll not be seeing any futures.”
 

“My husband is dead, Serenity.”

The news caught me off guard. “When?”

“Yesterday morning. It’s why Martin was so distracted. Ultimately, the timing made everything easier, but you will not see me again,” she said, sounding so old.

“It doesn’t give you a right to do what you did . . . but I am sorry, Anna,” I whispered.

“You are dying to ask, aren’t you?” she said, smiling a fraction.
 

“You know me too well.”

“First, yes, I am older than you are, though I will not tell you how old. Second, they call me mistress only because I will it,” she explained, knowing exactly what I was curious about. “Some things even you don’t understand yet.”

“Then I hope I never will.”

“You will, but not for a very long time. Now, go. See to your niece.”

“If it’s your last request, then I’ll not say anything about your hand in this, but my warning stands.”
 

“You were always one of your word.”

“And you were always full of surprises.”

Neither of us liked goodbyes, and we left our conversation there. Her actions may have been unforgivable, but at least with a witch on our side, we’d had some say in the outcome. And I had to believe she’d protected Lizzy and Martin. Knowing Lizzy was safe didn’t stop me from racing through the bitter London streets in an effort to see for myself.
 

The plane was on a small, rarely used airfield and was sitting, door open, waiting for me.
 

“Where is she?” I asked, not bothering with hellos.

“Bathroom. She’s complaining she may have a scar, but other than that she’s fine,” Leola told me.
 

I would’ve been shocked at the pleasant tone to her voice, but Lizzy was my priority.

The second she stepped out of the bathroom, I engulfed her in my arms. “You scared me for a minute.”

“Yeah, like you didn’t already manage to give us all a heart attack with the whole dying thing you did,” she answered, laughing.

“Still, never scare me like that again.”

“We clear to take off?” Zach called.

I glanced at the door, half expecting to see Georgianna running up the steps after me. When I saw no one, I said, “Yes. Let’s go home.”

Lizzy spent the flight in Martin’s lap. She would indeed have a faint scar from Elena’s teeth.
 

It was clear she was comforting Martin, and I longed to offer my condolences, but I wasn’t supposed to know about his grandfather. So I kept quiet, watching and waiting.
 

A couple of minutes into the flight the tension became unbearable. “Will you please ask me already?”
 

“What did you do to her?” Leola had a fierce light in her eyes.

“I didn’t kill her, if that’s what you mean.”

“Shame, I always hated that bitch.”
 

“You
didn’t
kill them?” Al looked like I’d told him the most unbelievable thing in the world. “Then what
did
you do?”

“Perhaps I should explain something.” No doubt one of many things I’d need to clarify. “I need them. More than you may realise. There is no guarantee there will ever be more of us, and I can’t police an entire race on my own. They enforce your rules, and your race fears them. I need them to continue doing so.”

“I can see your point. Even when there were many of you, we had troubles,” Poppy said, eyeing me with interest. “But I always wanted to break Elena. I wish I could have seen it.”

“You still have your sadistic streak, I see.”

She smiled brightly. “Some things never change.”

I explained what I’d done to Elena, avoiding the actual details of it. They didn’t need to know how she’d suffered in her life. If Poppy was aware of it, she didn’t say anything.
 

“Okay, I have a question,” Lizzy said. “I know you let Kiros look into your mind, but what did you show him to get him to submit like that?” There was a fierce, almost excited interest to her words.
 

“That was easy. I let him see . . .” As I started to speak, I felt Ray stiffen next to me, leaning away.
 

But he couldn’t read minds. He couldn’t have seen what I was thinking . . . unless . . .

“Ray?” I asked quietly. “Did you look into my mind, too?”

“I’m sorry. It just happened, I couldn’t control it . . . I’m sorry.”

I should’ve realised that by taking my life it would unlock something within Ray. It hadn’t occurred to me that all he needed to gain those basic vampire abilities was to have his first taste of power.
 

“No. You never knew. Listen to me,” I ordered, taking his face in my hands. “What I showed him was all the bad things I’ve seen. Fifteen-hundred years’ worth of death and destruction. The pain I felt when I lost you is nothing compared to the happiness I feel when I am with you. Please believe that.”

“But it was
so much,
” he whispered, pain etched across his face.

“Listen to me, Ray.”
 

I closed my eyes as I concentrated. They were private memories, feelings, and intimate touches. They were all Ray’s.
 

I showed him everything. The overwhelming desire to stare into his eyes forever, the way his skin felt against mine, how I felt when I watched him sleep, and when I woke in his arms. The joy I felt at the secrets we shared, the way his smile lifted my heart as he picked bits from my hair when I returned the first time. The way I ached for him and the pleasure that each touch brought.

“Do you see?” I asked. “All of that is because of you. You are the love of my life, my reason for carrying on, and the reason I can never stop smiling. Any pain I felt is irrelevant because I have you.”

“I love you.”

“Whilst you live, so shall I. When you sleep, so shall I.”

He smiled, and I saw it in his eyes—the belief I was not only telling the truth but I meant every single word of it, with all of my heart.
 

Once everyone had asked their questions, the atmosphere on the plane was a lot more relaxed. We all talked among ourselves for the rest of our journey. I found out everything that had happened had lasted much longer than I thought.
 

After Ray had drunk from me, I’d lain on the cold catacomb floor for hours while The Seats rejoiced in their victory. The crying I’d heard was because they wanted to do something with my “body.” Only my screams had ceased their celebrations. The pain I’d felt hadn’t passed in seconds. I’d then lain there for an hour or so between each bout of pain, passing out. Everything had seemed so much quicker from my perspective.
 

Thankfully.
 

Jayne was waiting for us with Alex and another Cat in tow. It was an emotional welcome home, for everyone. Alex pulled me aside before we left the airport.

“Have you seen her?” he asked.
 

I knew exactly to whom he was referring, but I answered, “No. Should I have?”

His eyes narrowed. Perhaps I should have played dumb when he asked.
 

“I had to check Martin’s mind, so I knew he hadn’t been hurt,” I bluffed. “I assume Georgianna has disappeared again.”

“Again?”

“When she lost her husband to the stake, she disappeared. It’s how she deals with her grief.” It was how all witches dealt with the death of their loved ones.
 

“She’ll be back. She always comes back.”

Somehow I wasn’t convinced. She’d disappeared for centuries after the death of her last husband. This time, no doubt, would be the same.
 

“Do you need anything?”

“The funeral will be in two weeks,” Alex told me. “You know we have to wait.”

“I know. Let’s go home.”

The preparations for Martin’s grandfather went well, and the funeral passed without Georgianna. It amazed me how deeply she was missed by the Cats.

   
They’d lost two of their elders in the same week, and it was a sad fact for those who took their place.

As the service drew to a close—a burial followed by a traditional speech and prayers—I looked around. Ray was by my side, my partner, my vampire. Lizzy was with her partner, half witch, half Were. With the human blood that ran through all of our veins, we truly were connected as never before.
 

Five races all joined into a single family.
 

Each holding a piece of the heart of one.

The impossible had come to pass.

“You ready to leave?” Ray asked.
 

“Come on, we need to get home. Now,” Lizzy said, interrupting my reply.

She’d been excited all day; unusual for attending a funeral. She refused to tell me anything, smiling all the time. If I could have suffered from seasickness, her constant bouncing would’ve made me ill.

“Can you drop me off at mine? I’ll be over in a while. I need to pick something up,” Ray said. He was getting used to being out in the daytime again after feeding from me. My life hadn’t been enough to make him incinerate before my very eyes, but we’d been given quite the scare. It was nice to be able to see him in the sun again without him wincing in pain.
 

After saying a brief goodbye to Ray, Martin, Lizzy, and I went back home, Lizzy fidgeting the whole way.
 

I slammed on the brakes as we pulled into the drive and leapt from the car.
 

“Samantha Louise Bryan!” I shouted. “What the hell are you doing here?”