Vamped Up (12 page)

He couldn’t hide the truth from Ruan any longer. “I gotta tell you one more thing,” Dante said, measuring the tension in Ruan’s shoulders. “I was hired to be an assistant at Crimson Bay University.”

“Good for you,” Ruan said flatly, lost in thought.

Dante shook his head. “No, I mean, I was hired to be in Eve’s classroom.”

“
My
Eve?” Glaring through thick, wet strands of blonde hair, Ruan squared his shoulders.

Before he got his ass handed to him again, Dante threw up his hands. “I didn’t put the two of you together until I saw her in the training warehouse the night of the slug fest.”

Ruan’s jaw ticked. “So what’s your plan?” he asked, each word slow and deliberate.

“I’m quitting first chance I get. Laying low sounds great about now.”

“Good answer.” Ruan bent down to pick up a small rock and flipped it over in his hand. He must’ve figured Dante wasn’t a threat as much as a tool, because he said, “Teleporting is a nasty trick to have up your sleeve, you know. But it makes you a valuable weapon to have in our arsenal and a big-ass target for our enemies.” He chucked the rock over the cliff and into the swell of the sea.

“If you think I’m going to put on a puppet dance for your khissmates so they can point fingers at me and use me as some sparkly tool, you’re wrong.”

“All I have to do is tell them about you and you won’t have a choice.”

“Then as long as I don’t teleport anyone else, I guess it’s your word against mine that I can do it at all.”

Ruan stood silent, his form casting a massive moonlit shadow over the ground. “The way I see it,” he said at last, “is you can either work for us or against us. I could ask Slade if there’s room for you in the haven army. That’s your best option.”

“No.” Dante turned from the ocean, from Ruan, and started walking back the way they’d come. The last thing he needed was to have more reason to listen to these voices and become the monster they wanted him to be. “Besides, you’re forgetting something. I’m not even a member of your haven. I belong to the haven in Petaluma, remember?”

Ruan must’ve read Dante’s frustration right because he kept a few paces back. “I don’t care what haven you belong to; we can work that out later. All that matters is there’s a fight going on right now and it involves all of us.” Ruan paused, his eyes focusing far off. Dante wondered if Ruan was thinking back to Twitch coughing up Eve’s name. He was about to ask when Ruan said, “We can use all the help we can get. If you can teleport, who knows what else you’re capable of.”

That’s exactly what worried Dante most. He didn’t know what the voices would eventually lead him to do. He couldn’t silence them forever.

“I told you I’m not getting involved.”

“No, you said you shouldn’t have. That’s different.” Ruan grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him around. “You’re already too involved and you know it. You’ve been working for Eve. That death shade back there said her name, and I know you heard it. You came to me, wanting me to train you, needing my expertise. Well, I’m giving it to you. I’ve never seen anyone do something like what I saw you do back there. And I get the feeling there’s still more to you than you’re letting on.”

Dante exhaled heavily, slapping his hands to his sides. “I don’t have the answers you want, Ruan. I can’t expect you to understand this, but I don’t want to be used for my abilities. For once in my life I want to be more than useful. Damn it, I want some kind of purpose.”

Instead of arguing back, Ruan clenched his jaw, and stared right through him.

When Ruan spoke again, his voice had changed. It was a deep rumble, all traces of anger vanished on the winter wind. “Your Camaro is only a few miles that way.” He pointed through the clearing. “It’s an easy enough run. You’ll be back to your haven before sunrise.”

“What’s the catch? You’re going to drop this whole thing just like that?”

Ruan nodded, taking the lead down the path back to the Tahoe. “Just like that.”

“Why?”

“Because, despite my huge ego, you made me realize something.” He pounded heel through the trees, around a cypress trunk, and disappeared into a curtain of rain.

“And?” Dante shouted, standing firm, too leery to follow.

“When someone asks you for help, they don’t want to exploit your abilities or use you as a tool. They just have more of a sense of purpose than you do.” His voice faded to a distant mumble. “I’ll be at ReVamp deciphering the scrolls if you need me. And work on your weak right cross before our next training session, would ya?”

Chapter Sixteen

“Mawares are a gift of power from the Ever After. Don’t abuse them.”

What to Expect When You’re an Elder
by Antoinette Lightoller

T
HE INSTANT
E
VE
pushed open her apartment door, she knew she wasn’t alone.

Her feet froze of their own volition. She scanned the blacked-out entryway and living room beyond.

“Hello?” She forced her hesitant body to take a step into the apartment. “Ruan? Is that you?” Her voice trembled. She hated it.

On tiptoe, careful not to make that third board squeak, Eve took a few more steps and peered into the empty bathroom on her right. She wished she had a weapon. A gun like Ruan’s. A blade like Dylan’s; though if she did walk around with a blade on her belt, she’d name it something more lethal-sounding than
Mathilda
.

She huffed and took another careful step. Hell, right about now she’d settle for a can of pepper spray named Rosie.

She stepped into the living room and flicked on the wall light. Her breath caught in her chest as a warm glow spread across the walls and set upon a figure on her couch. Sitting on the edge, staring straight forward, cross-legged and proper, was a lady covered head to toe in red. From her velvet hooded cloak to her stiletto heels, the woman was a vision of poise and elegance.

She didn’t move a single muscle. Did she not hear Eve come in? Was she made of marble or something?

Eve stepped back. Only a few more steps and she’d be into the hall.

The woman turned her head slowly, revealing a ghastly pale face. Too pale for even a closet vampire. Full lips. Pointed nose. Lava-red hair that parted around her neck and fell to her lap in thick, sweeping curls.

As Eve opened her mouth to speak, the lady in red held up a long, delicate hand and motioned like she was zipping a gap in the air closed. Eve’s lungs deflated. Her lips pinched tightly closed. Pinpricks dotted her vision. With the same elegant movement, the woman motioned for Eve to come closer.

Mind blank, words on the tip of her tongue forgotten, Eve shuffled to her side and took the seat to her left. No matter her desire to leave, Eve became prisoner to this woman’s power. Like a magnet drawn to its likeness, Eve couldn’t leave her side.

“I’ve waited for you,” she said, her voice commanding, yet motherly. “I thought perhaps we’d have more time to iron things out, but it seems I was wrong.”

Everything moved in slow motion, like being in this lady’s presence made the world slow to a crawl. She slowly opened her mouth to speak. The mesmerizing lady in red planted a narrow finger over Eve’s lips, silencing her. Even if Eve wanted to say something, she couldn’t. Her voice failed her. This was the closest thing to magic she’d ever seen. The woman had complete control over her.

“Now is not the time for questions. Now is the time for answers. I’ll not hurt you.” She pulled her hood down, revealing fiery red curls that overwhelmed her porcelain-white skin.

Pangs of familiarity hit Eve hard. Could it be—could she be the woman who’d saved her when she was young . . . ?
No
. What were the chances? And why would she reveal herself now?

“My name is Lilith. I’m an elder—the oldest of our kind, actually. And you, my dear, are the one we’ve been waiting for.” Her fangs dropped low, two dainty white tips that touched her bottom lip.

Although Eve couldn’t move, her brain kept pace. She’d heard of elders. Ruan talked about their mysticism and mawares often. From her understanding, they were in hiding. Why would this elder, professing to be the oldest and probably most valuable of her kind, expose herself here? In their apartment? Why was she talking to Eve like she was something to be revered? And where on earth were these whiffs of cinnamon coming from?

“I’m sure you have many meaningless questions to ask me, as you always seem to do when we meet like this. Most of them will go unanswered today, I assure you, but what you need to know most I won’t deny you. You have my word on that, as my own life depends upon your understanding something in great detail.” She tossed a curtain of red curls over her shoulder, sending sharp whiffs of cinnamon floating into the air.

Eve closed her eyes and felt her chest flush warm. She felt happy. Loved. This maware, although not frightening or overwhelming, had to be one of the strongest around. Eve didn’t feel threatened or fearful, just unconditionally loved. She’d give this elder anything she asked for on trust—and the tingles warming her chest—alone.

Lilith smiled wide, showing a set of pearly white teeth. Had to be veneers. Nobody had teeth that perfect. As vibrant images of that fateful night from Eve’s childhood jumped in and out of focus, she caught hold of one in particular: the woman’s brilliant white set of fangs. She fought a gasp, her airway constricting. The mysterious vamp, Lilith, had returned.

“You must understand that the necklace around your neck never belonged to your mother. She wore it until the day she was killed, that’s true, but it was yours. Always was, always will be. I guess you could say your mother was keeping it safe, as your blood is her blood, until you were ready to bear its responsibility. I took it from her neck minutes after she passed and delivered it to you when you were ready to receive it. You see, it’s not just a necklace made of silver and onyx. It is much more than that. May I?”

Although Eve couldn’t speak, her heart pinched and her throat seized. Lilith was the woman who’d saved her—the one who was there that night to protect her. There was so much she wanted, needed, to say.

Lilith reached out, open palmed, for Eve to remove the necklace and place it in her hand. Eve reached around her neck, twisted and turned the hinge on the chain, trying to pull it off and grant Lilith’s request. The clasp didn’t budge.

Lilith smiled as if she knew her request would be denied. “It has powers unlike anything the world has ever known. You are the one destined to harness that power—the only one who would never use its energy for evil, no matter how tempting. You are not simply the true blood source of the mundane race, Eve. You are much more than that. Your spirit has been sent back to earth more times than any other. Because of that gift bestowed upon you by the Ever After, your spirit burns the brightest.” She untied the rope holding her cape together and let the velvet pool to the couch. She sported a red lace corset underneath, her full breasts pressing out the top, and a skirt that flowed to her feet in a waterfall of black velvet. “It’s quite warm in here, don’t you think?”

Eve couldn’t answer if she wanted to, but the necklace was buzzing in response, heating her chest to feverish levels. Eve opened her mouth to ask a gazillion questions, then clamped it shut, realizing she was still prisoner to Lilith’s whims.

Lilith waved a hand in the air as if cueing music from a distant room, then scooted back and propped her head up on the back edge of the couch like they were old college roomies. “Speak, Eve. What’s on your mind?”

Like a nail was removed from her voice box, Eve’s words took form. “You were the vampire who saved me that night?”

“Yes.” Smiling, Lilith’s face lit up. “I had a feeling you might remember me if you saw me again. Made quite the impression, did I?”

Unable to hold back, Eve asked the question that had burned into her soul every night since her mother was killed. “Why me?”

Lilith flinched, though she tried to hide it by dragging some hair behind her ears. “I should think a thank-you is in order.”

“Thank you,” Eve blurted, then blinked quickly. “What I meant was, you could’ve let me die. I was close to being a goner anyway, and if you had been caught at the scene, you could’ve been implicated in our deaths . . . or my mother’s, anyway. And then you didn’t just leave.” Eve’s mind reeled. “You stayed and revealed yourself to me. And I don’t remember anything after that. The next memory I have is being at my mother’s funeral. It was like I fell asleep that day on the sidewalk and woke up standing over her casket, surrounded by family.”

“I thought it only right to take away the memories that would cause you the most pain.” She spoke simply, slowly, as if she was ordering dinner. “My maware wasn’t strong enough to erase
all
the memories surrounding your mother’s death. You wouldn’t release them.”

Erasing memories. Easing pain. Lilith could . . .
control people’s memories?

“Why me? Why did you care about some young, orphaned girl on the sidewalk?”

“Did you not hear a word I said before?”

Eve thought about Lilith’s words, no matter how crazy. “You saved me because you think I can use some sort of power in my mother’s necklace?” Man, she sounded certifiably insane.

“
Your
necklace,” Lilith corrected, lips pinched. “And yes, to say it plainly. It was not your destiny to bleed out on the street at six years old. It is your destiny to be here . . . now.”

“Why can’t I take it off?” Eve held up the amulet, turning the side with the opal toward Lilith.

“I really wish all this would end already. I’m growing quite tired of repeating myself to you.” Lilith sighed, batting heavy lashes. “A little piece of each elder’s maware is encased in that amulet, preventing the white shades of elders from reaching the Ever After. Until both the light and dark shades meet again as one in the Nether Realm, the white shades of elders roam the earth, lost as ghosts. Not real, tangible creatures, nor figments of people’s imaginations.”

Eve massaged her throbbing temples. This was too much to take in at once. Ghosts were the earth-bound white shades of elders? And what the heck did she mean about repeating herself? Eve was sure she’d remember hearing something as kooky as this. Her gaze shot to the door, to the only way out, and back to reality.

Lilith continued, her scarlet eyes bright. “Somewhere along the rough road of time, divine evil cursed this amulet, imprisoning a fragment of each elder’s maware within it as a way to hold vampire elders captive on earth. By holding a part of their energy in that amulet, our spirits can never reach the Ever After. But there was an inherent flaw in the spell caster’s curse. You see, duality is in everything: light and dark, good and evil, heaven and earth. As this amulet was cursed by pure evil, the spell can only be reversed by pure good. That’s where you come in, my dear.”

Eve shook her head, fisted the amulet, and tugged at the chain as hard as she could. “I don’t know what you’re taking about. Ghosts, evil trapping elder mawares into an amulet, my
pure
spirit. You’ve got your facts twisted. Here, take the necklace back. I don’t want it.” She had to be missing something. “What’s the real reason you’re here? You’ve come back to kill me, is that it? Finish what was started?”

Lilith brushed her hand over Eve’s, stopping her from pulling at the amulet. Warmth and love spread through Eve’s body like fine wine, soothing every frayed nerve. “Every hundred years you’re reborn into mundane flesh, Eve. Your soul meets Ruan’s, the perfect match for your spirit, and you fall head over heels in love.”

“You’re talking about past lives?” Eve blurted. “Reincarnation? There’s not even a mention of reincarnation in the bible. Try your mumbo jumbo on someone less educated.”

“Leave it to the biblical studies teacher to throw something like that in my face.”

“How do you know what I teach?”

“I know more than I should, darling, I’m almost a thousand years old. What you must know is that no one can harness the energy in the amulet but you, and you can’t take it off until the chain is broken. The time has come to change history. To break the chain.”

“What chain?”

Lilith leaned close, whispering, the smell of cinnamon and sugar overpowering. “What you don’t remember, what your memory can’t carry over from one life to the next, is the knowledge that he kills you. Your immortally beloved Ruan claims your body and drinks your blood, draining you dry.”

“I’m sorry, but I think you’ve got your facts twisted. He wouldn’t let that happen.”

“Oh, he would kill you. And he does. Over and over again.” Lilith stood and strode to the wall by the flat screen, to a picture of Golden Gate Park at sunset. She stroked a hand over the tiny hills and valleys like she was stroking a lover’s cheek.

“He’s been nothing but protective of me since the moment I met him.” Eve’s world spun. “What you’re saying and what he’s showed me are two completely different things. He can’t even drink from my vein for more than two seconds without beating himself up about it.”

Lilith turned from the picture, her fire-red hair nearly brushing her knees. “And why do you think that is?”

“Because he loves me.”

“No.” Flicking her tongue out, Lilith licked the corner of her lips like a serpent. “Because he knows what he’s capable of. He has to keep his distance because if he doesn’t, he knows he’ll kill you.”

“You don’t know him.” That couldn’t be right . . .
could it?
Time and time again, Eve had gotten the feeling that there was more to the pain in Ruan’s eyes that he was letting on. It was more than regret for biting her. Was this really the reason for the torment Eve knew existed deep inside him?

“I don’t believe you,” Eve said, though her voice was too meek to be believable, even to her own ears.

“Fine.” Lilith snatched Eve’s hands, warming them until her palms were sweating. “How about a little glimpse into his true character? Let’s try the year 1812 on for size.”

Before Eve could argue, she was slammed by a heat wave that snapped her head back and her eyes closed. Her body went numb, her arms and legs limp like jelly. Pressure filled the room, her head, and her ears. A low whooshing sound increased until she thought her head might explode.

But it didn’t.

When Eve opened her eyes, she was lying in a wild grass bed on the shores of a small creek, listening to water trickle behind her. Mission San Francisco de Asis’s wooden cross peaked over large hills to the east. The sun had fallen below the horizon to the west. Sweet fragrances of honeysuckle and lavender smothered her. She didn’t have to look at her clothes to know she wore a wedding dress. It was off-white, buttoned to the neck, adorned in lace with pearl closures at the wrists. She’d stayed up all night making sure the dress, her shoes, and her makeup were perfect.