02 Blood Roses - Blackthorn (6 page)

His words echoed through her mind like it was only yesterday. ‘You’re more than just an interpreter, Leila.’

She had been sat at his desk, surrounded by his books and papers. The fire had been flickering in the hearth, the wind billowing against the window. She’d known he was about to say something that was going to change everything. She’d seen it in his tired, wrinkled eyes and the tense and uneasy way he’d sat.

‘We never know which generation it will strike. It skipped your grandmother and mother but it rests with you. The rarity of what you hold is more powerful than you can imagine. It is a gift for humanity and the most lethal curse to the vampires. You’re a serryn, Leila.’

She’d read about them before in the texts from his collection. She didn’t understand most of the explanations, but she knew the gist. Serryns were special. Rare and special. They could kill vampires. ‘But I don’t understand,’ she had said. ‘I’ve tried to, but I don’t.’

‘In time you will.’ He’d placed his large, warm hand over hers. ‘And when you are ready, I will tell you everything you need to know to keep you safe.’

‘From them?’

‘From them and all their enemies. The vampires will want to destroy you because they hate what you are. They will want to protect themselves and to protect their own kind from you and from others who will use you to get to them. That is why this must stay our secret. Without your mother and father to protect you, it is down to me to keep you safe. That is why we can’t tell the authorities what happened tonight, why they must never know you were there. That’s why I had to dispose of that vampire’s body. If they knew what you were, they would want you too.’ He squeezed her hand tighter. ‘This must be our secret, Leila. You must never tell Sophie and Alisha you were there. You must never tell them that you saw what happened or they will be at risk too. No one must ever know.’

No one should ever have known. That was what she had always intended. That was why she should never have stepped foot in Blackthorn.

She warily glanced over to see Caleb wiping his sword off on Tay’s trousers before strolling over towards her, spatters of Tay’s blood on his jeans, his shirt and face.

This was it. She and Alisha were as good as dead. Killed by a vampire, just like their mother.

She braced herself as he stepped astride her hips again, as he held the tip of the blade against the bare flesh beneath her collarbone. She glazed over, still weakened by the sedative, cold perspiration sweeping over her.

‘Now. What to do with you,’ he said, tilting his head to the side as he tauntingly traced his gaze down over her. He pressed the flat of his sword to her outer thigh and slid the cold metal upwards, taking the hem of her dress with it to her hip. With expert precision he slipped the very tip of the sword under the thin hip-band of her underwear.

Leila held her breath, only too aware that the blade could slice through the delicate fabric with no effort at all.

‘Don’t worry, that would be too easy,’ he said, lifting the sword back to her collarbone. ‘I prefer a fair fight.’ He paused. ‘So, does Alisha know what you are?’

She glanced anxiously at Jake as he stepped alongside his brother, his arms folded, his brow furrowed.

Caleb slid the sword to her cheek, forcing her to look back at him. ‘I asked you a question,’ he said, his green eyes narrowing. ‘Does she know?’

Tentatively holding his glare, she shook her head.

‘Did you tell anyone else where you were coming?’

Reluctantly, she shook her head again.

He raked her slowly. ‘I’ve known some brazen serryns in my time, but never one who’s walked so seemingly unprepared into a vampire’s lair.’ Retracting his sword, he crouched down over her. ‘That either makes you reckless or just plain stupid.’ He kept his gaze locked on hers for a few uncomfortable seconds longer before he stood again and stepped away.

Caleb dragged the chair containing Tay’s dead body back towards the door. Jake followed behind and slammed the steel door shut, leaving her alone in the moonlight.

Leila dropped her head back against the floor. Trying to catch her breath, she scanned the room again. The place had been built to be impenetrable. The walls were solid, the window too high, the bars too close together.

Was this how others of her kind had felt when they were trapped?

No, others of her kind wouldn’t have got themselves into this situation in the first place. Others of her kind would have undergone their training, not just their studies. Others of her kind would have slain the dying vampire then taken out his brother before marching out of that club with their sister right beside them. More to the point, others of her kind wouldn’t have been stupid enough to go there in the first place.

Leila took a deep, shaky breath and stared up at the stone ceiling. The room contracted and expanded as she teetered on the edge of consciousness. The breeze washed over her as the dankness of the chamber filled her lungs, the rain still pounding outside the window, the wind howling.

Locked in a vampire’s torture chamber with no way out and not the first clue of what she was going to do about it.

She closed her eyes. All she could see was Tay writhing in agony – writhing in agony from
her
blood. Blood that Caleb injected in him knowing exactly what it would do.

Caleb who had killed one of his own with such cruel ease.

He was a monster. And now she was at his mercy.

Chapter Six

J
ake closed the dungeon door. He stepped around Tay’s lifeless body, Caleb having abandoned it still strapped to the chair in the tiny interrogation room that sat between the dungeon and their office.

Caleb was already at the drinks cabinet, his back to him as he poured them both a whisky.

Tay had it coming. He had no doubts about that. But even for Caleb, the serryn venom was a cruel tack. Necessary, Caleb had told him before they’d gone in there – the perfect solution to both problems. Because Caleb always was methodical.

But this was not good – not only having seen just how terrifyingly accurate Caleb had been in his descriptions of a serryn’s potential, but because Jake knew, remembered, just how vicious Caleb could be when it came to them.

They always did it to him – triggered something: a darkness that Caleb found difficult enough to contain anyway since suffering at the hands of one at such a young age. He’d survived, was an extremely rare and fortunate one who had, but the unspoken trauma had changed something inside of him – something that wouldn’t heal. Jake had never needed to know the details of what had actually happened to Caleb that night to see that.

And the loss of their eldest brother, Seth, thirty years later had only fuelled Caleb’s darkness. Seth who had been killed breaking up a brawl – a brawl he would never have been on the streets to be a part of if he hadn’t been wrongfully dismissed with disgrace from his duties with the Higher Order.

Caleb would never forgive the Higher Order for that – not least Jarin, the high-ranking, lying vampire who had accused his loyal bodyguard of cowardice in order to cover his own back. Jarin, who had betrayed and humiliated Seth even further by unjustly placing him on the dishonoured list.

They had both idolised their older brother – but for Caleb, Seth had been the father figure they’d never known. And Seth had been the only one capable of tempering Caleb.

Caleb had slipped into an even darker place after that – immersed in resentment, restrained from enacting revenge only by knowing the repercussions for Jake and anyone else he had left to care about.

Then along came Feinith – the beautiful, sensual, Higher Order vampire with an offer Caleb couldn’t refuse: a chance to appease some of that pent-up frustration and turmoil by hunting serryns.

But it had only done the opposite.

For the decades during his hunting, there had been too many dawns of Caleb returning home blood-splattered, wounded and darkly unrepentant. Worse, he’d seen his brother thrive on the depravity and cruelty he had engaged in. There were times when he’d lost his brother to it and not only physically. Emotionally the serryns created an impenetrable barrier in him. Seventy years of hunting serryns had turned him into something almost unrecognisable from the brother he had grown up with.

He knew Feinith had a lot to do with that and he’d never forgive her for it. Feinith had fed that side of Caleb. Caleb’s tumultuous on-and-off furtive relationship with her during his hunting days, let alone the years that had followed, had done nothing to abate the darkness that had almost consumed him.

Sixty years since Caleb’s last kill, he’d hoped it had been the last of it. The ban on the hunting of serryns, let alone them seemingly becoming extinct, had since let Caleb rebuild his life. And Jake had enjoyed having his brother back – the real Caleb: a Caleb not weighed down with the need and desire to wipe every single serryn off the planet. Tension and energy he had instead ploughed into building the businesses.

But having seen how Caleb had looked at Leila, the way he’d dragged that blade slowly and coaxingly down her defenceless body, told him how close his brother still lingered to the edge. And more than ever, he knew why he needed to get her out of there. Not just for Leila’s sake, but for his brother’s sake too. He couldn’t have that brother back – the uncompromising, bloodthirsty, depraved Caleb. Not for anything.

‘Caleb, we’ve got to get her out of here,’ he said, joining his brother at the arc of CCTV monitors that bowed against the wall directly ahead.

Caleb’s attention was fixed on the image of Leila lying on the dungeon floor. ‘Not now we’ve got more reason than ever to wait until dawn, we don’t.’

‘And then what?’ He watched Caleb knock back a mouthful of drink in silence. ‘Caleb?’

‘How old do you think she is? Twenty-five, twenty-six?’

‘Alisha’s twenty-five and I know Leila’s a few years older than that. Why?’

‘She should have been active years ago.’

‘Active?’

‘Hunting. Did you see that look in her eyes when I killed Tay?’

He had. He’d seen the fear. He’d seen the horror and disgust at what her blood had done. A look that was a far cry from the serryn warriors Caleb had spoken of. ‘It wasn’t exactly a pretty sight.’

‘It’s what they’re made for, little brother. It’s what they live for. I’ve seen looks in those cold bitches’ eyes that would chill you to your core.’

‘Which is all the more reason why we should get her out of here quick.’

Caleb ran the rim of the glass across his lower lip as he stared pensively at the screen. ‘She can’t be a latent. They’re teenagers, not women in their twenties.’

‘Maybe she’s the exception to the rule.’

‘There is no exception to the rule when it comes to them. And there never will be. Besides, she may not have liked what she saw in there but she knew what was coming, so someone’s taken a bite out of her before. That in itself should have been enough to trigger her, so what’s holding her back?’

‘Maybe she only found out recently.’

Caleb looked back at the screen as Leila gently arched her back from the floor in a vain attempt to stretch. ‘A serryn with cause on top of instinct, from what Alisha told us. Recent or not, there’s something more to this.’

‘I don’t like the look in your eyes, Caleb. I know that look. Think about what you’re doing. What if she has saved my life?’

‘Her kind owes us thousands of lives. Do you think if it wasn’t for Alisha, she would have had any intention of helping you?’

Jake frowned. ‘You saw it yourself in there. She’s not like them
.
’

‘Or she’s exceptionally good at what she does.’

Caleb wiped his thumb repeatedly over the control panel, drawing the image closer. She shuddered, no doubt cold and exhausted. And judging from her pained attempt at stretching again, the discomfort at being on the hard floor had well and truly set in. Her eyes were reddened, her pale cheeks flushed. Caleb drew in closer still on her face, on those pretty hazel eyes. And when he did so, there was something in Caleb’s eyes too – something dark, something deadly, something Jake had hoped never to see again.

‘You made a deal with Alisha,’ Jake reminded him. ‘You made a deal with them both. You never go back on your word.’

‘If I let her walk out of here, I’m putting every one of us beneath this roof under threat.’

‘Caleb, you can’t do this.’

Caleb’s eyes flashed darkly as he looked across at him. ‘And I can’t let her go. Not now. She’s not going to walk away and pretend this never happened. She’s either going to come back here fully fledged and without Alisha to worry about, or she’s going to bring the whole Vampire Control Unit down on us – and that’s attention we could do without. Let alone if word gets out I let her go. That’ll be our reputation gone, and we will be finished here in Blackthorn. You know what the fallout of this could be.’

‘And if the Higher Order hears about it our lives aren’t going to be worth living anyway. You know how much Jarin is itching to get at you. It’s bad enough he’s suspicious of your relationship with Feinith– ’

‘
Ex
-relationship,’ Caleb interjected. ‘She walked away from me for good the minute she betrothed herself to that lying bastard.’

‘Caleb, finding out you’ve concealed a serryn will give him the perfect excuse to prosecute you.’

‘Then we need to make sure nobody
does
find out. Which is why I need you back at front of house keeping an eye on things while I deal with this.’

There was no way he could leave his brother alone with her. Not knowing there were worse things than death that Caleb could inflict. Much worse things. ‘By doing what?’

‘Nothing for you to worry about.’ He knocked back a mouthful, ice clinking against glass.

‘I’m not leaving you alone with her.’

‘Need I remind you I’m not the one with the self-control issues, little brother?’

‘No, but I know you like to play dangerous, and that’s just a little too close to the edge. Whether she’s active or not, that blood flowing through her veins is still poisonous. She needs to be kept out of the way. We could get Hade to take her somewhere. Hand her over to someone until dawn. Keep it underground. You’ve got enough loyalty to keep this hushed.’

Caleb glanced back across at his brother. ‘And what’s the fun in that?’

‘I knew it. I knew you wouldn’t be able to resist. Caleb, I can’t let you do this. Not for your sake. Not for hers. If you’re right, if she has done a holding spell, you need her alive, right? She dies, I die with her.’

‘I’m not going to kill her.’

‘You can promise me that, can you?’

Caleb looked across at his brother. ‘Until dawn, yes.’

‘When was the last time you fed, Caleb? A proper feed.’

‘I’m fine.’

‘I’ll line a couple of girls up for you. Get yourself sated. You need to tackle her with a clear head.’

‘My head is perfectly clear.’

‘Like an alcoholic says to a full bottle of Vodka. Caleb, I’m not happy about this.’

‘There’s only one way I can make a decision, Jake. If that façade is real, she won’t be able to keep it up all night. If I want to see what she is, I’ve got to lower those defences first.’

Jake’s grip tightened on his glass. He knew exactly what that meant. ‘If you’re to justify whatever it is you’re planning to do to her, you need that façade to slip, you mean. You want her to prove herself to be like the others. That’s the main reason you’re keeping her here. You’re insane. I am not going to let you do this – this crazy power game you’re starting up is going to stop right here.’

‘Is that my brother actually stressing about something?’

‘Look me in the eye and tell me you’re not daring her to do something.’

‘I am making sure we’re prepared.’

‘Making sure she knows who’s in charge, more like. But this is too dangerous, even for you. And don’t forget Alisha’s in the equation.’

‘Is she still in the club?’

‘Hade’s keeping an eye on her. I told her there were a couple of things I had to sort. But she’s going to start getting twitchy in another hour or so.’

‘Then ply her with plenty of drinks. Use one of the spare apartments tonight. I don’t want her around until tomorrow. I don’t want you around either. As soon as those sedatives wear off properly, reality is going to sink in and I don’t want you in the firing line.’

‘And what about you? What if you take a bite? What if she’s that one serryn too many? Like you said, what if she is exceptionally good at what she does? It’s been a long time for you, Caleb.’

‘Not long enough for me to forget how to handle them,’ he said, staring back at the screen.

Jake needed to get back in the dungeon and warn her. He needed to tell Leila to keep calm. He needed to tell her that if she kept her head down, he would work on Caleb to let her go.

But this was his brother. His brother whom he loved and trusted. Caleb was no fool when it came to them. He’d always told him how devious they were and how manipulative – luring vampires in, making them see whatever they needed them to see. He didn’t know if she was any different, not really. He only had Alisha’s word for it. But he did know his brother. And his brother knew how to handle serryns better than anyone else ever had.

Jake indicated towards Tay’s abandoned body out of sight in the room behind them. ‘What about him?’

‘I’ll incinerate him. We don’t want any traces of her blood found. And give that photo we’ve got of the sisters back to Hade. Tell him I want the other sister found.’

‘Why?’

‘She could prove useful.’

‘How?’

‘Just trust me, Jake.’

Jake hovered then ran his hands back through his cropped hair before exhaling a reluctant, terse sigh. ‘You’d better know what you’re doing.’

‘When don’t I?’

Jake tongued his teeth as he shook his head slightly, hands falling to his hips. ‘I’ll sort Alisha but I’m checking on you in a couple of hours. No arguments,’ he said as he stepped over to the door.

He looked back over his shoulder at his brother, but Caleb’s attention was back on the screen.

Closing the office door behind him, Jake stood in the corridor, the music vibrating up from his right.

He had to give Caleb more credence. He never lost it. Ever. He got carried away but the hunt was always perfection, from the tales he’d heard. Every serryn execution was controlled. It was what made him so damn good. It was what made him the most successful hunter of serryns back all those decades ago. Caleb bit only when he wanted to bite. And no serryn had ever succeeded in convincing him otherwise. That was what made him so proficient. That was what had made him the best. And he’d been up against the best and won.

This would be no different.

And Leila wouldn’t act. Leila would think only of getting her and Alisha out safely. And he had to trust in that. She’d be smart enough to know. And his brother, if he really believed she had done a holding spell, loved him too much to do anything to put him in jeopardy before dawn.

He had no choice but to leave them to it for now.

Leila had to get through this one on her own.