Whisper to Me (Borne Vampires Book 1) (13 page)

“Anytime you need us, we’re here for you, Miss
Jordan.”

“Please, call me Mariah.”

Upon entering the quaint bookstore, a charming,
round woman introduced herself as the store’s owner and led her and Lydia to a table
with a comfortable chair positioned behind it. The owner found another chair
for Lydia, who sat beside her as she settled in to sign books. Answering questions
about her plans for future books, avoiding those aimed at her personal life,
she managed to keep smiling until she smelt it.

Death!

Searching the cause, she saw him standing in a
dark corner. His white suit was elegant and pristine. Waist long, flaxen-blond
hair immaculate, there was not a single strand out of place. He leaned on a
black cane, his finely boned hand rested on the ivory headpiece, smiling serenely
as he watched her. Dark, square sunglasses prevented her seeing his eyes, but
she knew his face, knew him.

Aidan.

A woman put her book in Mariah’s hands and she
bent to sign it. Insistent whispering in her mind distracted her from her work.
She tried blocking him out, to ignore him. Stupid thinking on her part. With a
wave of his hand, the store cleared, including the owner. He approached the
table, holding one of her books in his hand.

“Miss Jordan, I would be honored if you could be
so kind as to sign my book for me. I have enjoyed your writing immensely.”

God, he sounded like Aidan, moved like him, too!

Staring at the bluish veins tracing the back of
his pale hand, she warily took the book, careful not to touch him. “You've read
my work?”

“I find your writing most stimulating. You are a
vital part of your characters, immersing your soul into your writing. There’s
darkness in you which I find inspiring.” His lips pulled back in a smirk. “If I
may, I would like to extend an invitation,” he paused with an amused smile
before saying, “for dinner.”

Swallowing hard, she prayed she didn’t piss him
off, but there was no way she was going anywhere with him. “I cannot. Due to a
previous engagement, I must regretfully decline.”

“This little bookstore shall have to do then.” He
smiled coldly at Lydia. “My dear, why don’t you return to your hotel room while
Miss Jordan and I converse?”

Lydia shot her a scared look. Mariah forced a
smile and said to her, “It’s alright, Lydia. I’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. Off with you now.”

Nervous, Lydia cautiously went around the table,
keeping her eye on him as he watched her with amusement. Opening the door, she
glanced back once at her and left.

“Excellent,” he said cheerfully, “we can have our
chat now.” Waving a hand, a chair slid to him. Regal as a king, he sat down,
elegantly crossing his long legs at the ankles. A quizzical expression was on
his beautiful face. “You do not fear me?”

“Are you Aidan?”

Taking off his glasses, she saw they were blue. Not
Aidan. His eyes glittered, shiny on the surface, dead inside the icy depths. “I
see you are disappointed. Please, allow me to properly introduce myself, I am
Jarrod Draco, Aidan’s twin brother.”

Draco? She went cold inside. Oh, God, she was
Aidan’s daughter!

“I see in your eyes recognition of my name.
Our
name.”

“Y-yes, my name on my birth certificate is Mariah
Draco.”

“Why do you go by Jordan then? You are not
married, are you?” his voice went cold, a thread of anger intertwined in it.

“I took the name Jordan when I became a published
writer,” she lied. No way was she telling him her adopted family had her use
their name when she came to live with them.

His eyes narrowed, as if he knew she was lying.
She quickly changed the subject. “Twins? Do twins run through vampire families
often?” Sitting back in the chair, the dream she had now made sense.

“Not often. It is considered a burden rather than
a blessing. At least in our family, it seemed. How much do you know about your
father?”

“Then Aidan is my father?” she asked, trying hard
not look into his eyes. Damn, he was powerful!

“Yes, dearest Mariah, Aidan was your father. How
much do you know about him?”

“Only what he looked like and … and how much he
loved my mother.”

“Nothing else?” She shook her head. “What memories
have you of your youth?”

Surprised he asked that, she wondered if he knew
about her amnesia. “Not much. I remember finding the people I thought were my parents
beheaded, the fire that burned their bodies and our house down.”

His face hardened in response. “Slayers were sent
to kill you.”

“You think it was Slayers who had murdered them?”

“I
know
they did. The Slayers were there to kill you, to kill the ‘abomination’. That’s
what the Borne call the Dhampir. Abominations.” Jarrod tilted his head as he
observed her. “The spell the Gypsy cast on you protected you from the Slayers,
kept you hidden from detection — kept the vampire in you hidden. Unfortunately,
it prevented me from finding you and bringing you home, where you belonged.”

Jarrod’s long fingers tightened around the
gargoyle. “It is the Borne Vampire Law not to consort with humans. The Borne
are never to turn the humans,
never
produce a child with them,” he said it with such bitterness, such hatred; she
began to wonder who the real monsters were. “Death is the penalty for
infractions. Ordered by the precious Borne Elders.”

“Did you know my mother?”

“No, I had not met her, but I knew her name her
through my connection with Aidan.”

“What was her name?”

“Maria was her name.”

“Maria.” She repeated, blinking back the tears,
not wanting to appear weak before Jarred. The vampire who had saved her had
named her close to her mother’s.

“Maria was a delightful creature. Whimsical and
wild. Aidan was immediately smitten with her spirit and delicate beauty.”
Lifting the head of his cane, he pointed it at her hair. “Not many a redhead
amongst the Sinti and Roma or possessed her gifts.”

“Was she full-blooded gypsy?”

“Yes and was so much more. Much more.”

“How?”

“Maria could read peoples’ thoughts; sometimes see
into the past, the future. It was her gift that told her Aidan was vampire, and
they were destined to meet.”

“She wasn’t scared of him?”

“No. In fact, she told him she’d been waiting for
him. They were destined to be together, she’d said. Imagine that? A human
seeking out a vampire, and she loved him to top it off.” Jarrod wore a baffled look
and the strangest thing, admiration. “Aidan was lost in her, and she in him.”

“Who attacked them? Was it her clan?”

“No, Ivan had left his people after Maria’s mother
perished giving birth to her. He took his daughter to Romania, wanting her to
have a normal life, not used as a fortune teller, forced to see people’s misery
or their hopeless dreams at endless readings.”

“To protect her, he made her an outcast? That
makes no sense.”

“Humans. When do they ever make sense?” Jarrod’s
eyes bore into hers as he leaned forward. “No Slayer would have taken mercy on
a half-breed child. I am curious, who saved you?”

“How did the villagers find out Aidan was a
vampire?”

Relaxing back in his chair, if he was
disconcerted, he didn’t let it show. “Your grandfather learned Maria had been
sneaking out at night. When he followed her, he realized the man she met was a
vampire. Fearing for her mortal soul, he confided in his friends. They took it
upon themselves to hunt Aidan down. My brother was outnumbered, and no Borne would
come to his aid.”

“Why not?”

Jarrod dropped his gaze to his hands, his voice
raw with grief and anger, “Because Aidan had committed a heinous crime in his
vampire families' eyes. He had fallen in love with a human. A sin which left him
defenseless, for no Borne vampire would ever come to his aid, even if he had called
for it.” A brief, haunting agonized expression replaced Jarrod’s calm before he
collected himself.

“But a vampire did come to his and Maria’s aid.”
Cursing her stupidity, she wanted to slap herself for opening her mouth.

“What?” He sat straighter in his chair. “How do
you know?”

“I-I saw him in a dream. Aidan told him to save Maria.”

Eyes narrowing, Jarrod demanded, “Why didn’t this
vampire save Aidan as well?”

“Aidan ordered him to protect Maria and the child
growing inside her while he stayed to hold back the villagers from following
them.”

“Have you a name for the one responsible for
saving your mother’s life?”

“No. He saved me twice though.”

“Twice?”

“He killed the hunters when they attacked my grandfather
and mother, after she’d given birth to me.” She watched him carefully, seeing
he did not react when she said ‘hunter’ instead of ‘Slayer’. The men who killed
them were definitely human,
not
vampire!

“I owe the one who saved you much. Have you seen
him since your birth?”

“No, I haven’t.”

Swearing, he took his cane in hand, twisting his
hands about it. “Who saved you, I wonder?” Giving his head a little shake,
Jarrod focused on her. “It does not matter. I’ve found you, and no one will
harm you again. With transfusions of my blood, the spell will break, and you
will become what you should have been. Do not be fooled by the dilution of your
blood, you
are
vampire.” His
smile was triumphant.

Not wanting to exchange blood with him, even if he
was her uncle, she remembered Rathe’s words of Jarrod and him friends. “You
were a Slayer, weren’t you?” She glanced down at his hands and found he did not
wear a ring like Rathe and his brothers.

“I was, a long time ago.”

“Why didn’t
you
save Aidan? Did you obey the Borne law and leave him to die for his sin of loving
Maria?”

“In vampire families, we are able to converse
telepathically with one another. For twins, we feel what the other feels.
Except Aidan had broken the link with me when he met Maria, afraid I would
judge him. Something I
never
would
have done, not to Aidan.” The sadness in his eyes made her wonder if his soul
was really gone.

“The night Aidan was captured he opened the link
between us. I suffered what Aidan suffered as they stabbed him, burned him,
finally chopping off his head. In vengeance, I killed my brother’s murderers. I,
who was a Slayer, was judged for seeking revenge for my brother’s murder! See
for yourself!” His eyes blazed white-hot and she gasped as he showed her the
night he found the villagers.

Jarrod ripped limbs off, tore bodies apart, and
drank the gushing blood. Blind was his rage, his grief monstrous in proportion
to a mere human at losing his only brother, his twin. Reeling at the magnitude
of his grief, the infinite separation, she felt Jarrod’s despair as he held his
brother’s headless body, having lost the only person who had loved him
unconditionally.

“Jarrod, you didn’t lost your soul when you killed
the villagers, did you?”

“No, I hadn’t.” A ghost of a smile escaped the vampire.
“When I declared war on the Borne, I needed the true vampire in me to arise and
give me the power to kill them all. I traded my soul for
real
power!” Ice-blue eyes glowed with a
half-mad light. He leaned forward, eager. “Mariah, bind your soul with me. Together,
we will change the vampire world. No longer shall the Damned fear the Borne.
With you by my side, we will rule the world!”

“Excuse me? Did you say ‘rule the world’?”

“Only you, Mariah, can bring back my soul. You
will have the power to do it, once the protection spell is completely broken.”

“How? Once a vampire loses their soul, it can
never return.”

“It has been foretold a woman who is Gypsy and vampire,
a telepath who can bend vampire and human to her will, will come and within her
she has the power to return lost souls. You, Mariah, are the one prophesied to
save the Damned. With your blood, my soul shall be restored to me.” Jarrod smiled
confidently. “I will rule the Damned and the Borne vampires, with you by my
side — as my bride.”

“Bride?” Dora and May’s warning sunk in.

“Yes, Mariah. You were destined to be mine,” the
raw power in his voice made her gasp as he ‘leaned' into her, making her head
hurt as she struggled to force him out of her mind.

A wall went up in her mind, blocking Jarrod out. She
felt Rathe’s strength flood through her body.
“Mariah, get your ass out of there,”
Rathe
ordered.
“He will kill you if he learns you
are my woman!”

“Your woman? When did I—”

“Shut up and don’t argue. Jarrod thinks me
dead, remember? If he learns I am not, he will kill you to make me pay for
judging him. Leave now!”

Damn, she hadn’t thought of that. Before she could
respond to Rathe, Jarrod said, “Mariah, it is time for us to leave.”

“Leave?”

“We have much to do in preparation of your
turning.”

“You mean to make me Damned!”

“No, you will not lose your soul. You are the
child of the Prophecy. Your blood will restore me and the others. We need to
prepare for our wedding.”

Crap! Casually, she reached into her pocket and
withdrew the silver cross she’d found in the duffle bag and held it out in
front of her. The reflection of the silver flashed in the soft lights. Jarrod
scramble to his feet, his eyes glowed red, fangs long.

“Mariah, what are you doing?”

“Jarrod, I swear before all that is holy, I will
never be your bride. Sorry, but that’s just sick!” She reached into her coat
and withdrew the bottle of Holy water, prepared to toss it on him.

Stumbling backward, Jarrod snarled, his beautiful features
contorted. White skin darkened to gray tissue, his mouth filled with rows and
rows of sharp teeth. Roaring his rage at her defiance, the glass windows
shattered, exploding onto the street. Lydia entered the store and aimed her gun
at Jarrod.