RBC05 - Bloodline (6 page)

“I just felt I need to come here,” El said and Kate, Letta and Rosa nodded in agreement.

We opened the door to find Allwain standing with his back to us. He turned as we entered, revealing the female Belnovus seated on a chair in front of him.

“Girls, good, good, this is Charmaine. Katrina, you were right, she wants to help. I’ve taken blood from her and unfortunately the water treatment we have won’t work on them. I’m sure however, that it will work on the vampires they create from humans. Charmaine, this is the Five, Katrina, Katherine, Rosalinda, Eleanor and Arletta.”

She, of course smelled human and I sensed her apprehension. She saw us studying her and set her jaw. She sat up straight and then said, “Good to meet you. Since I heard that you were joined, I have been trying to get out of the underworld, now I realize why I wasn’t able to.”

“The powers that be led
us,
to you,” I said. “Welcome, how can you help us?”

“Belnovus are linked. Though
you
can’t recognize that we-are-what-we-are by scent or by sight,
I
can feel when one is near and of course they can also feel me.”

“But, they wouldn’t think anything was out of the ordinary if they were to sense you, right?”

We all got very excited now.

“How far away can you be to sense someone of your race?” Rosa asked.

I could tell Rosa was the one that was still skeptical and wary of this supposed new ally.

Charmaine stared Rosa down. “Well I don’t know, because I’ve only lived in the underworld where they are plentiful. After I’ve been in this world for more than a day, maybe I’ll know more.”

Rosa mulled this comment over, while inspecting Charmaine from top to bottom.

“I like her. But don’t think for one minute that I won’t be watching her every move.”

Rosa was tough to win over and for a few seconds there, I wasn’t sure that the fangs weren’t going to come out. Charmaine’s abilities, along with Gruen’s and the rest of grendal might just give us all the advantage that we need to find and eliminate these enemies.

“Good, thank you for joining us. Allwain, I’m sure you still have things that you need complete before Charmaine can get settled in. So I’ll leave you to it, and we’ll see you later.
Allwain, we of course can’t tell her much for now, about our plans or our allies.”

“Yes Katrina, I fully agree. She does seem very sincere. I’ll continue with my work, we’ll know more tomorrow.”

We left the laboratory then and although no one said a word, I knew that we all were trying to figure out how we felt about Charmaine.

“How about some lunch and we’ll talk about this while we eat?” Letta said.

“Sounds good,” Kate said. “You seem to be spending a lot of time with Quinn, Katrina. Is there anything you want to tell us?”

“No.”

“I can see by the smile on your face that whatever your relationship is now, it’s good. I’m so happy for you,” El said in her usual positive way.

“We all are. You deserve to be happy Katrina. I think we all agree about that,” Letta added.

“Speaking of happy, Letta. You seem pretty happy yourself,” I teased.

“Liridon is an interesting person,” she said noncommittally.

We all stopped and just gave her a look.

“I really like him, we had an instant connection and he feels the same way, that’s all.” She smiled as if picturing him in her mind.

“I am happy. I’ve never felt like this before,” she added.

“We all think you’re a great match, even Gruen,” I laughed.

It was obvious when we reached the dining room, that almost everyone in our extended group had come to the same idea regarding lunch, because they were seated, waiting for us. The group included Nathaniel and last of his clan; Kellen, Micah, Kevin, Dell and Cole.

I was glad to see Nathaniel’s group. They were doing much better and were contributing as much as they could.

“I spoke with Corbin this morning,” Father said as we joined them.

“How is everything going in the new clan locations?”

“Very well, actually. They are now ready to take in more members, and not a moment too soon. Things aren’t good in Europe, not good at all.”

“What about the human population nearby? Have there been any additional problems?” Eric asked.

“I’m afraid there have been more of the illnesses, and many have died.”

“Are you saying what I think you are saying?” I said.

“Yes we will be dealing with a new fledgling problem.”

“We spoke with Allwain earlier,” Kate said. “He told us that the water treatment won’t work on the hybrids, but will work on their newly created vampires.”

“We know that for sure now because I went to see Cathos in Althar and brought back one of Belials ‘children’ which I found out are called Belnovus. In fact this woman’s name is Charmaine and she has agreed to help us.”

“You trust her?” Nathaniel said clearly very upset that we would allow in our midst a member of the very group that attacked and killed most members of his clan.

“I’m sorry Nathaniel that was so insensitive of me. But to answer your questions, I don’t trust anyone until they prove themselves worthy of our trust. Clearly she has much to offer us.”

Rosa added, “We will very be cautious of course. She needs only be told what she needs to be told. None of our power or plans will be revealed to anyone”.

“What do you need me to do?” Nathaniel asked in an effort to stop talking about the new arrival.

“I would be happy to have you do anything that interests you. When Cain first went to Paris he saw two men that I think you probably know, Stephan and Devin Wahl.”

“Sorry to hear that they escaped. Actually that may be to our advantage, since they know me too. I may be able to join them and find out what’s going on in Europe without them being suspicious.”

“I could go with you, my gift could be very useful in that effort,” Kellen said.

Many had questioning looks on their faces so she elaborated. “I can, if I wish, hear what people are thinking.”

“Do they know you Kellen?”

“No.”

“Good, that sounds like a plan. The only thing will be that Damien and Cain are there as well and we aren’t exactly sure which side they are on,” Eric said.

“I want to go too,” Marcella interjected. “I know I’m young, but I can act evil believe me, I had to do it for years in the underworld.”

“No Marcella, as Damien and Cain’s sister it would be too easy to use you. I have other plans for you anyway,” I said.

“The rest of us,” Micah said motioning to Nathaniel’s remaining clan members, “wish to start over in one of the new clans, if that’s an option and do whatever we can.”

“Of course. I’m sure you will be a great asset to whichever clan that you choose.”

“Actually, why don’t the five of you escort them to their chosen destination,” Father said. “It will give you a chance to see what has been completed and introduce them personally.”

“That’s an excellent idea, Father. Have you made a choice?” I asked Micah.

“We would like permission to join the Midwest clan,” Cole interjected.

“Good choice, we will leave right away. We could go by portal of course, but I think that for some reason it’s important that we go on foot, so meet us back here in an hour, ready to go. ”

“Very good Katrina, see you in an hour,” Micah said seemingly relieved.

“I wish you well,” Nathanial said as we all stood and they shook hands.

I waited for them to leave before discussing the rest of my plans with the others.

“Nathaniel, you and Kellen will have to go to Europe in a traditional manner. Father, will you take care of that for them?”

“Of course.”

I knew that I could speak to Nathaniel with my mind later, so I continued on.

“Liridon, you and Gruen will portal to the Midwest clan location since you can’t travel at full speed. While you are waiting for us, you can check the surrounding areas for hybrid locations. It won’t take us long to get there.”

“Don’t expect us to come in this form,” El said. “We plan to change our appearance so that we won’t be recognized by any hybrid sent to locate us.”

“This is our first mission as part of the Protectors. It’s very exciting. I hope the food is as good there as it is here,” Gruen said with child like glee.

“Leave it to you to be thinking of food. We won’t let you down, Katrina,” Liridon added.

“We know you won’t,” Letta said squeezing Liridon’s hand.

“You can leave right away. If you’ll follow me to the portal room, I’ll send you myself,” Father said as he stood and gestured for them to take the lead.

Quinn looked anxious.

“Quinn you and Avery will take the new Watchers as well as our personal Watchers ahead too. We will need you there.”

“I’ll gather them right now. Avery, are you ready?”

“I am.

“See you there.”Quinn gave me a wink and a smile on the way out.

“Tell us what’s really going to happen, Katrina,” Rosa said when we were alone.

“Do you want us to leave?” Eric said looking at an equally annoyed Kale.

“No Eric. What I want the two of you to do is to join Gerhardt in France, make your presence known and wait for us to contact you.”

CHAPTER THREE

T
hey looked shocked, but stood, nodded in agreement and left to ready themselves.

“Now, we need to decide what we are going to look like. This should be fun!”

“I have an idea,” El said excitedly.

Damien:

“Cain, I’m going out. I saw gatherings of what I think are hybrids near the right bank yesterday and I want to take a closer look.”

“Genevieve had mentioned that there is a new vampire club beneath the Musee d’Orsay.”

“Damien, we have to patient. Even though we seem to have been able to pass ourselves off as independent vampires with no loyalty to anyone, we can’t lose focus now. The stakes are too high.”

“No one knows that better than me, Cain. But this lifestyle is taking a toll on both of us. I really thought that the Five would have been here by now. Maybe we were more convincing than we thought.”

“Oh no, you can’t have lost faith in them already, have you? It’s not like they don’t have anything to do you know.”

“I know you’re right, it’s just that with every forced feeding, I feel part of me slipping away into an abyss that is all too familiar.”

“I am far closer to that life than you are, Damien. I know exactly how you are feeling. If it wasn’t for the power that Cathos gave us…”

“I know. It’s just about dark, are you coming?”