Eternal Shadows (6 page)

Like a dam had been let loose, a multitude of scents suddenly flooded my senses. I could smell Millie behind me, lilacs and clean laundry. How had I not noticed before? And there was another scent, not as close, but more familiar. Another that I hadn’t really been aware of before, but now I knew it. The closest comparison I could come up with was fresh earth, or the air right after a rain storm. How anyone could smell like that, I didn’t know. But I knew who did. There was no mistaking it, even beside the completely unfamiliar scent of fire, steel
, and gunpowder. I moved. My father’s study. I knew I wasn’t wanted inside. Knew because I was certain of who lay within, but I wanted to prove it to myself. I heard Millie draw breath to stop me, but I grabbed the handle and threw open the door before she could get any further. I saw his face in my mind, even before I set eyes on him.

Rhys.

He didn’t look particularly happy to be interrupted. Neither did the man he had been speaking with. Rhys stared at me for a moment like he wasn’t sure who or what I was, but then it became absolutely clear. His gaze switched from my face to over my shoulder.

“Millie, what is she doing here?”

I took a brief moment to size up the second man, or undead corpse. No mistake, he was the one who had approached my father. Taller than Rhys, and nothing but lean muscle, he reminded me of a well-honed weapon.

That didn’t stop me from going ahead with my outburst.

“Which one of you killed my father?”

They both went stone still.

“Kassandra,” Millie’s tone held a hint of warning, and I sensed her hand reaching for my shoulder.

I shrugged her off before she even touched me. “No. I want to know.” I hadn’t taken my eyes off the two men. “Who did it? Tell me now.”

The nameless man, the one I had figured for the leader before, answered me. “Neither of us. A man named Dagger carried out the act. It was against orders. He has been dealt with.”

Dagger. What a great name. I felt my face go hot, my muscles tense. I wanted him dead suddenly. I’d never felt something like that before. Not even when I had been told of my mother’s murder. Maybe it was the blood I had dr
unk only hours before. “I hope ‘dealt with’ means dead.”

“It does.”

Comforting. But my anger wasn’t quite satisfied. “And he did this alone?”

Another moment of reluctance before I got my answer. “Madge was present, but she couldn’t stop him.”

“Where is she?”

Rhys’s expression shifted from shocked to curiously appalled. A line appeared in his forehead, directly over his right brow. “Absolutely not.”

“Why not?” I put myself right in his space, not tall enough to be nose to nose, but close enough. “Isn’t that what you wanted? For me to embrace my new self and act like the killer I am now?”

“That is not what I want.”

“Well, that’s just too bad. Too bad for you, just like everything is too bad for me. Where is she?”

“And after I tell you, what do you plan on doing about it? You can’t even walk down the stairs without tripping.”

Every thought I had stopped short. He couldn’t possibly know that. Millie had been the only one even close by. Unless…

“Are you spying on me?”

“I’m a vampire. I can hear everything that goes on in this house. Can’t you?”

I didn’t like the way he said that, clearly mocking me. “No, I can’t. My teacher sucks.”

“You have so far proven to be a terrible student.”

“Well
, here’s your shot. I’m ready.” He could teach me how to control all these new abilities, and then I could confront Madge about my father.

Rhys stared me down for a moment longer, then smiled. It was an evil smile, as far as I was concerned. “Cade, you wouldn’t mind giving Kassandra a crash course in vampire abilities, would you?”

“Certainly not.”

Crap
. I’d always had really good intuition. I mean really good. Mom had been nearly convinced it was some sort of gift. Yeah, right. Knowing when the shit was about to hit the fan just before it happened didn’t constitute a gift, it constituted an irritation. I knew I was in trouble now. I knew I was about to be very sorry I couldn’t control my mouth.

The impact was like hitting a wall, or rather, having a wall hit me with the speed of a car on the highway. The air felt like it had suddenly been forced away, like a vacuum or an implosion. The first thing I noticed was the sunlight, followed by the realization that I had stopped. Glad I didn’t really need to breathe, since the breath would have been knocked out of me otherwise, I hesitantly fingered the grass at my sides and below me.

I was outside again. The backyard this time. A lot more space. The better to teach me with, I was sure.

Cade stood over me, silent and serious. Rhys and Millie were right behind him. I did my best to give them all a dirty, rather than shocked, look. I had no
idea how much time had passed since Rhys’s request in the study, but I was fairly certain it hadn’t been more than a few seconds. Cade was fast.

I wanted to be that fast.

If I couldn’t die, I might as well make the best of things. Then maybe I could avenge my father.

“Teach me to do that.”

Much to my satisfaction, Rhys looked utterly stunned.
Ha
.

“Stand up,” Cade said. I did so quickly. “It’s the same as learning to walk, to run. You have more speed available to you now, and you have to control it.” He turned, and pointed at the huge oak that grew at the very back of the lawn. I had climbed it as a child—and just the other week. “Run at the tree, but stop before you hit.”

“Are you kidding me?”

The corner of his mouth drew upwards. It was the most expression I’d seen on his face. “Not at all. Run as you would when you were human, but push yourself to go faster. Don’t hit the tree.”

God I hoped this wasn’t a trick. I studied the tree and the distance to it. A straight line, nothing more, and nothing in my way. It couldn’t be that hard. Could it? “Just run to the tree?”

“Just run.”

Ugh
. There was clearly some sort of private joke going on. I could see it on all their faces. Whatever. I stretched out my legs a bit, then took off.

At first nothing felt different. Then, when I had hit what had been my top speed, I pushed further. I heard that same strange sucking sound as the air whizzed by, much like it had when Cade had grabbed me. Most miraculously, I could still see where I was going. I felt exhilarated. The tree was within sight, so close now.

It took about half a second for me to realize there was no way I would be stopping on time. Don’t hit the tree. Very funny.

I smashed into the trunk with every ounce of speed I had squeezed out of my body. All I managed to do in preparation was throw my arms up in front of my face. The wood splintered all around me and my feet slid forward even as the rest of my body was held back by the thick trunk. I landed flat on my back, having
been left behind by my uncontrollable legs. Wood chips and splinters scattered all around. I coughed and spit out leaves and bark, sitting up to clear my throat with more ease. Dirt covered my legs up to the knee and my heels were buried in the ground. I ached from the force of the impact, but a quick glance at my arms told me I had sustained only minor cuts and bruises. Yay for immortality and a nearly indestructible body. But my tree was destroyed.

I could sense the three of them behind me. Or, more accurately, I could smell them. “I get it. It’s not so easy.”

Millie came around and offered me a hand up. I took it. “You actually didn’t do all that poorly,” she said, though her tone was clearly one of an adult encouraging a child. “You did manage to run successfully. I tripped over my own feet the first time.”

“Something to look forward to.” I brushed the debris from my clothes before turning to face the other two. “All right, so how do I stop?”

“Practice,” Cade said.

Rhys plucked a large section of tree from the ground. “And you’ll want to be careful not to break everything in your path. You’re stronger now, too.” He flipped the wood in his hand once, then hurled it at what remained of the top of the tree, now sideways on the ground. The collision popped against the air, leaving the branches nothing to cling to. What had once been a magnificent old tree was now nothing more than firewood. While saddened by it, it made their point crystal clear.

“Got it,” I said.

“One more thing.” Cade made a quick hand gesture and both Millie and Rhys took a single step back. My nerves did a series of flips. “Dodge.”

“Dodge what?”

The end of my question ended up a scream. I threw myself to the side, but Cade still got this hand around my wrist. I ended up right against his body, his other hand locked loosely around my throat. “You’ll have to learn to defend yourself,” he said.

“Defend myself? Aren’t you the peace-bringers?”

“The vampire world is just like the human world. Different opinions, different beliefs. Sometimes, they clash.”

Oh, great
. “Sounds like a blast.” He released me and I stepped back until my heels hit a large piece of tree trunk. I shook out the wrist he had grabbed then went to rub my neck, but the discomfort I expected wasn’t there. Other than the sensation of being recently touched, there was nothing.

He was good.

“You’re Rhys’s responsibility,” he said. “So I’ll leave you to him. But be on guard. Don’t be surprised if I decide to test you without notice.”

“Gee, you really know how to make a girl feel comfortable.”

“It’s important. There are dangers out there you can’t begin to imagine.”

I was surrounded by vampires. My imagination was a little more bendy than usual. But he didn’t seem the joking type. “I believe you.”

He nodded, satisfied, I guess, that I had been convinced. Then he gave his attention to the others as though I didn’t exist. “Rhys, we’ll finish our discussion later. Millie, I have something I need you to do.”

She followed him inside after smiling at me yet again. I wondered if her mouth ever hurt, or if the muscles in her face were just really strong after more than a century of smiling. I wondered, too, why they walked inside at a normal human pace.

“Why walk so slowly when you can move faster? Is it always so much work?”

“No, once you learn to control the speed it takes no effort at all. But why use it when you don’t really need it? Short distances like from here to the house are no great feat, and we do like to enjoy the fresh air.”

Made sense, I guess. I was getting rather excited about all these new abilities, against my better judgment. Once I could run that fast without killing everything in my path, I’d be doing quite a bit of it. Speed walking was going to take on a whole new meaning. I giggled at the thought of showing all the old ladies at the mall every morning a thing or two.

Rhys watched me, clearly pondering my sanity. It only made me laugh more.

“So,” I said once I was done, “what do I get to learn now, oh wise one?”

“Basic control. And you’ll have to make a decision about feeding.”

“You mean whether or not I want a feeder?” My new knowledge surprised him. “Millie introduced me to Brody, and the basic concept.”

“Good. Is that the course you want to pursue?”

“No. I want to not drink blood at all. But it seems like the least destructive route, so yeah, I guess.”

“Then let’s practice not breaking things when you hold them. Humans are rather fragile.”

Yippee
.

Chapter Four: Feeder

I wasn’t allowed to pick my own feeder. Not that I wanted to. Apparently, it was all some big to-do. Rhys had refused to pick for me, so Millie had taken the job. Rhys did, however, have to approve.

“I’m telling you, Rhys, she won’t be comfortable biting a girl.”

“She’s not going to be comfortable biting anyone.”

I’d been secretly listening to them argue the matter for some time. Honestly, it was amusing, and educational. It surprised me how well both of them knew me after such a short amount of time.

Any time Rhys had some pressing matter to attend to, Millie came to keep me company. Or babysit me, which was closer to the truth, but I preferred to think it was purely because she enjoyed my riveting conversational skills. Not that she didn’t like me. She did, and I liked her. Millie was smart. She had been a stenographer before she was turned, and had worked for the head of some huge New York company. She refused to tell me which one. Since then she did a lot of reading and kept track of just about everything the family, as they called it, did. While she hadn’t told me about anyone outside of herself, her sister, Rhys and Cade, I had gotten the impression that the family was much larger, and very important in the grand scheme of things. After all, they had usurped my father. Just like in every other country the vampires had visited, the United States was close to finding a solution to the seemingly never-ending war. It was all over the news. Of course, it was easy to come to peace agreements when the leaders of enemy countries were no longer enemies, but more vampires and all a part of the same movement. I hadn’t worn Millie down enough to get all those details, but I was close. The day before she had almost slipped. Next time I’d get her. Or maybe Rhys.

Rhys had spent the last five days working on my control. Fun times. His method of teaching was a bit unconventional, at least in my opinion. When he
had first explained our learning-filled activity I had informed him he was completely and utterly insane. First of all, as I had explained to him, my hand-eye coordination sucked. My whole life, any time I caught anything I was left stunned. He had thrown things anyway. Fragile, breakable things. At first they broke on the floor, but once I got the hang of catching things on a regular basis, they broke in my too-strong grip. Not exactly encouraging. Currently, I had successfully caught and not broken a grand total of nine things ranging from kitchen glasses to Christmas ornaments. Apparently that made me ready to hold the life of a human being in my clumsy hands. I had argued, but Rhys was tired of bringing me fresh-squeezed blood in glasses since I refused to bite anyone random.

And so the race to find my feeder had begun. And oh, how amusing it had been. This wasn’t the first argument they had had on the subject. The day before I had heard them debate specific names, or people more accurately. Rhys didn’t seem to like any of the possibilities Millie had come up with.

“We can’t afford to have just anyone around,” he explained after I had badgered him about what the big deal was the night before. “We have to trust the people we let close to us.”

So many complications in this life. What did they think would happen? No way a human could kill a vampire without help. Especially when suffering from chronic blood loss. I had said as much, but both Rhys and Millie just looked at me like I was an idiot who needed correcting. Like there was something I still didn’t know.

Yet, they didn’t feel the need to fill me in.

Their current argument devolved into an indistinguishable hum. Dammit. I still wasn’t that good a listener. Why did all this vampire nonsense have to be learned? In all the movies the power was instant. Unfair.

Well, I couldn’t understand them anymore, but I could very easily open the door and walk in. No way they didn’t know I was lingering outside, anyway. Sure enough, they were annoyed, but not surprised, to see me when I did just that.

“Sorry, couldn’t help but overhear. You know how it is. Superhuman hearing. Rather uncontrollable at my age.” I grinned sweetly to top it all off.

“Just like an American to eavesdrop.”

“You know, Rhys, I’m getting tired of all your American cracks.”

“Then stop acting like one.”

“Stop it, both of you,” Millie said, sitting in the biggest and most comfortable leather chair in my father’s study, straightening her skirt as she spoke. “Kassandra, it may actually be a good thing you’re here.”

“Oh?” Most of the time I felt like I was indefinitely in the way. In my own home, nonetheless. Which I was still pissed about, but as my mother had always said, there’s no point in dwelling on what you cannot change.

“I think I’ve finally found the perfect feeder for you.” She said it like she had found the perfect birthday present.

“Goody,” I said.

“I’ve opted for a male over a female, as you’ve no doubt already heard.”

“Male? God, Millie, you’re not buying me a puppy. Say you picked a guy.”

“Fine. A guy over a girl. Does that suit you?”

“None of this suits me. Rhys was right on that part.”

“Don’t give Rhys a reason to gloat, please.” The dirty look on her face went right over my shoulder to where he stood behind me. I could only imagine what he retaliated with.

“Yeah, sure, a guy’s fine. I guess.” How was I supposed to know? Millie had Brody and that was a rather intimate affair. Cade bit anything that walked by, as did Madge, though supposedly they did both keep feeders from time to time. Rhys had avoided the conversation thus far, but I’d yet to see him with anyone. So with only one example how should I know what the best option was? “I can always change later, right?”

“Yes.” Rhys answering from behind surprised me. I hadn’t expected him to chime in.

I spun around to look at him. I had unconsciously avoided the act until that moment, and as soon as I was aware of that fact, I was also aware of why. My heart thumped once against my chest, something it did less and less now. Most of the time it remained completely still. But not when I looked at him. It was kind of annoying. More so when my knees turned to Jell-O at the same time, but that only happened if I made direct eye contact. Like now.

“For someone who didn’t want to pick my feeder, you sure do have a lot to say about it,” I said with as much edge as possible. I wanted to look away from his
impossibly blue eyes, but that would have lessened the force of what I hoped was an impressive derogatory expression, so instead I forced my knees to remain solid.

“I explained this to you,” he said. “It’s an important decision and not to be taken lightly.”

“Trust me, I may be many things, but taking this lightly is not one of them. You’re putting someone’s life in my hands. Against my will, I might add.”

“Well,” Millie slapped her hand
s on her thighs before standing. “If we’re settled on this, then I’ll be leaving now to go pick him up. Do try not to annoy one another to death before I get back.”

I blinked and missed her leaving. I really needed to get better at this. But speaking of annoying one another to death…

“Why haven’t I met your feeder yet?” There was no possible way he could dodge the subject now.

As expected, Rhys’s neck tightened the way it always did when I thoroughly exasperated him. It was the one thing I was good at in this new life and so I practiced often. Didn’t want to lose my touch.

“My feeder isn’t here.” He started walking and I followed close at his heels. With Millie gone, he wouldn’t lose me. I was hardly ever left alone.

“But you do have one.”

“Yes.”

“Guy or girl?”

He gave me a sideways glance that was probably supposed to make me shut up, but I just nudged him in the ribs and repeated the question. He grumbled and looked away, but he answered. “Girl.”

“Ah. Is it like with Millie and Brody?”

“No.”

He answered that one right away. Interesting. “So why isn’t she here? Don’t you need to eat?”

“She’s not here because I didn’t bring her.”

“But she’ll be coming eventually, right? Why do I have to ask for every little detail specifically?”

“Yes, she’s coming. And you have to ask, because I don’t really want to answer.”

“And yet you do.”

“I’m hoping it will gain me some peace later.”

“How am I supposed to learn if you don’t tell me anything?” No response. “Ha! I got you on that one.”

“You’re very nosey, do you know that?”

“Only when someone makes it fun.”

That familiar growl escaped his throat and he turned down the hall, heading towards the back of the house. I followed in silence for a while. I could play nice. But I still had a million more questions and I wanted them answered while he seemed willing. I waited until he had led me through the den and out into the backyard before starting up again.

“So what happens now?”

“What do you mean?”

I ducked into the shade of the closest tree. It had been a while since I’d eaten and the damned sun made me uncomfortable. “Well, you’ve taken over, and from what I’ve heard most of the fighting has stopped. What happens now?”

“We put things back together.” He stood clear in the middle of the yard, the sun glistening off his pitch black hair and giving his lightly tanned skin a subtle glow. My heart rammed my ribs again. Damned hormones. “Come over here.”

“No thanks. I like the shade. You really don’t look much like a vampire standing there in the sun.” I studied my own arms. Pale as the winter snow, which really was normal for me, but I usually looked better than this. I had always made it a point to spend time outside so I didn’t look like the walking dead. Funny how things turned out.

“That’s the point. Now come over here.”

There was something different in the way he said it this time. I had already taken two steps before I realized I had moved. I pulled myself to a stop and not for the first time I felt a funny little pain at the back of my skull. “How do you do that?”

“Do what?” He looked so innocent.

“Make me listen to you. It’s not the first time.” I hopped back into the shade, wondering what he would do about it.

I could practically see him debating over whether or not to give me the answer. I was just about to ask again when he spoke. “I sired you. You have to listen.”

“Excuse me?”

“A vampire is bonded to the one who turned him. Disobeying a direct command will result in pain,” he tapped the back of his head. “Right here.”

My pain had already faded, but it had never been unbearable to begin with. “Not much of a deterrent. I’ve had worse headaches.”

“The pain is relative to the force of the command. I’ve never forced my will on you, just given very persuasive suggestions.”

“So what happens if you really, really mean it?”

“You would be incapacitated with pain.”

“Oh.” All this time he had been being nice to me. Now I felt bad for giving him such a hard time. “So you could force me to do anything?”

“Not really. I can want you to do anything, and if you resisted then you’d have to deal with the pain.”

“Have you ever felt it?”

“Yes.”

“How bad is it?”

“I agreed to do as I was told afterwards.”

That bad. “Nothing aspirin would fix, huh?”

“A few have gone mad from trying to resist.”

“Fun.”

“I won’t do that to you.”

The admission shocked me. “What?”

“I won’t ever give you a direct command if I can help it. Though now that you know what I’ve been doing my ability to quietly persuade you will be diminished.”

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why won’t you do that to me? I’m difficult, I know. I’m working at it.”

“Because it was done to me, though only once. Trust works better. Now come here so I can show you something.”

I was completely stunned. Never in a million years had I expected Rhys to have that level of compassion, especially for me. Though, he had been exceptionally patient with me those first days, and when Madge had forced me to drink. He could have made his life a million times easier just by ordering me around, but he hadn’t.
Crap
. Now I was the jerk.

Sighing, I resigned myself. But just for appearances sake…“Say please.”

“No.”

“All right then.” I took a deep breath and stepped into the sun.

“It gets easier, but only if you build up a tolerance.”

I bounced anxiously as I walked, feeling the burning thirst grow in my throat. I tried to distract myself. “So how come I’m so pale and you’re not?”

“Because I go in the sun and I drink fresh human blood.”

“Oh. So tanning and being inhuman will make me look more human.”

“In a manner of speaking, yes.”

“Swell.”

“You need to get used to this or you’ll never blend in.”

“Blend in with what?” I stopped once I had reached him. The sun was way too hot and my desire for blood was far too appealing.