Taboo (A Tale of the Talhari Book 1) (14 page)

How could the Talhari afford so much opulence? Where did their money come from?

In the bathroom she considered the large soaking tub and promised herself a long bath once all this was done. But that thought led to another. How long did she have to stay here? Forever? What would happen to her house? Could she stay in a place like this? She supposed if she truly was immortal now she couldn’t live in her house forever. People would begin to wonder why she never aged. Was this why so many Talhari lived in the motherhouse? And just how many motherhouses were there? From what Alaric had said, she assumed there was more than one.

On the night table she spied a menu with a number at the top. Room service.

She considered ordering tea, but discarded the idea. Also, she wasn’t sure why a house that housed vampires needed a kitchen. Perhaps they had human guests from time to time. Then she remembered Alaric eating the meal she’d prepared.

She sat on the bed for a while, bored, before she remembered that Alaric had told her she could explore the house. So she decided that’s what she’d do. Go out and see what was what.

She went into the hall and made her way to the stairs they’d come up. She didn’t think she’d be able to see everything, was sure much of the house would be off limits to her, but she could see the library.

She stepped into the large space, marveling anew at the size and number of books that must be contained in this room. She stared up at the wrought iron rails in wonder. Four sets of steps led up, a stairway at each corner of the room. Rows of long tables were centered on the main floor, as well as sofas and armchairs scattered cozily around the room.

She didn’t even know where to start. There were so many books. How were they categorized? Did each floor have a different topic?

“Can I help you find something?”

She started at the unexpected voice.

A man came to stand in front of her. Like Alaric, he was tall with long blonde hair, although his face was scarred. Three long scratches marred his right cheek. He was dressed in simple black jeans and a black tee-shirt. He didn’t look like a vampire, but she knew since he was here he must be one.

“We’ve got this, Trevor.”

Sydney recognized Trina’s voice.

Sure enough, Trina and Rhonda were coming toward her. They’d changed into jeans, sneakers and tee-shirts and looked more relaxed than they had since she’d met them.

Trevor disappeared into the stacks.

“So you live here?” Sydney asked once they were close enough.

“Yeah,” Rhonda said. “It’s easier to stay here. There are fewer questions.”

“We all have our own places, as well,” Trina added, “places we can go when we want to get away, but eventually we have to sell. Me, I keep a house in Nassau.”

“In the Bahamas?”

“Yeah. And Rhonda has a condo in London.”

“So you don’t have to be here all the time?”

“No.” Rhonda settled a hip on one of the long tables. “We get time off, too. Too much work equals burn out.”

“But most of the time you’re here?”

“We keep an eye on things—”

“By we she means the Lynchburg motherhouse.”

“Yeah,” Rhonda agreed. “We keep an eye on things in Central Virginia and Maryland. That’s our quadrant. Nothing much typically happens south of DC, but we’re on top of it if it does. Like this situation, for example.”

“The rest of the time you’re here? In the motherhouse?”

“We’re not prisoners. We can go out when we want to,” said Trina.

Rhonda stood from the table. “Did Alaric show you around?”

“No. We met with the SG, then he took me to my room.”

“Fourth floor?”

Sydney nodded.

“So, if you decide to stay with us and if the SG approves it—which I can’t imagine she wouldn’t—you’ll be spending a lot of time in the library.”

“But there are other things to see,” Trina said, heading out the way they’d come in.

“Come on,” Rhonda said.

Sydney followed.

The main floor was massive. The kitchen staff was large and lived on site. She saw they had two lavish, ultra-modern conference rooms, a number of offices, and a cafeteria that looked more like an upscale restaurant than any cafeteria she’d ever been in. The décor throughout the motherhouse, in fact, was lavish and upscale. They hadn’t spared a dime.

“We’re not cursed so we can eat,” Rhonda explained. “I still love the taste of food, only now, I never gain weight.”

It took them nearly an hour to show her everything on floors two through four, but when they had, Trina announced it was time to go to the basement.

“Is the basement the same size as the main level?” Sydney asked.

“Pretty much,” said Rhonda. “It’s the same length and width, if that’s what you mean.”

“What’s down there?” Sydney asked as she followed them from the library into the rear hall.

“The basement,” said Rhonda. “This is where we house captors, interrogate, and—”

“You mean you have prison cells down there?”

“Yeah, prison cells, though the SG prefers the term containment chambers.”

They stopped at a bank of elevators and Trina pushed the down button. “Better to take the elevator,” she explained.

“So how old is this place?” Sydney asked.

“Old,” said Trina. “As far as I know, it was here in eighteen hundreds.”

The elevator dinged then the metal doors slid open. Sydney followed them into the elevator then waited for Trina to press the B button.

It didn’t take long to reach the basement. A few seconds and the elevator stopped and the doors were sliding open again.

“Here we are,” Rhonda announced, stepping out and into a brightly lit hall.

It was sterile, looked more like a hospital corridor than it did a basement, but Sydney supposed if they questioned and kept prisoners down there that made sense.

“Just so I understand how things are,” Sydney said, following them down the hall and passed a series of doors, “the prisoners aren’t what you’d call human?”

Trina looked at Sydney over her shoulder. “Nope. Not even a little.”

“And you guys don’t mind living above monsters?”

“Undesirables. And they’re secure.”

They showed her a few of the interrogation rooms. From the look of the rooms and the implements she’d seen within, Sydney didn’t want to imagine the kind of interrogation that went on in them.

“Does Alaric do the interrogating?” Sydney asked.

“No. That’s not a job for warriors. We have trained interrogators.”

“Let’s show her the hall,” Rhonda said.

Grinning, Trina nodded.

“What hall?” Sydney asked.

“You’ll see,” said Rhonda.

And she did. The hall was a large, open room filled with…stuff. Lots and lots of stuff. The glimmer of the overhead lights reflected off of what had to be hundreds of display cases.

“What is all this?” Sydney asked.

“History,” Trina said. “Everything around you was collected by a Talhari historian. Everything, down to the smallest object, is supernatural.”

“What do you mean?”

“The objects hold power.”

Sydney looked around the room, her eyes growing wide. The cases held statues, and shields, weapons, and paintings. “This is incredible. It’s like your own personal museum. Is that a Bosch painting?”

“Didn’t I say she’d love it down here,” Rhonda said.

“You did,” agreed Trina. “And yes, that is a Hieronymous Bosch.”

“Fall of the Damned. A copy?”

“Nope.”

“But the original is supposed to be in Venice.”

“It was in Venice, but this painting is a curiosity. People who touch it are transported…we’re not sure where. We just know the painting is a sort of doorway. It’s still being studied.”

“No way,” Sydney said.

“That’s not all.” Rhonda head further down the aisle. “We have something from your David who you know so much about.”

“King David?”

She followed them to a small stringed instrument. It was made of wood, cracked and pitted. Like the painting, it rested in a display case, so she couldn’t touch it, but just looking at it she could see its age.

“Know what that is?”

“A lyre,” she said, in awe. “I’ve never seen one so well preserved.”

“Nobody is allowed to touch it,” Trina said.

Sydney stepped closer to the case. “You’re not trying to tell me this is the harp of David, are you? If you are, I don’t believe you.”

Trina and Rhonda looked at each other, grinning. “You may not want to believe us, but that’s what this is,” said Rhonda.

“But how could you even get your hands on such a thing? And how can you know it belonged to David.”

“It was touched by God. The magic remains, embedded in the very wood.”

Sydney reached toward the case. She knew she couldn’t touch it, but if they were correct, if what she were looking at was the harp of David…she couldn’t even get her mind around such a thing.

“If that is what you say it is,” she started, then trailed off.

“We know,” Rhonda said.

“David used this to dispel the evil spirit in Saul.” She turned on them. “Maybe if we took it out of the case, used it now——against Saul—”

“The SG would never allow such a thing. And the elders…” Trina shook her head. “We’re not allowed to touch it. It was touched by God.”

“To use for good.”

They didn’t say anything, which Sydney took to mean that the harp was going to remain enclosed in its case indefinitely.

They led her down the aisle of cases and she marveled at the treasures that had been housed in her town all this time.

After a few minutes, Trina spoke. “Maybe this is none of my business, but I’ve seen something happening between you and Alaric.”

“Here we go,” Rhonda said.

“I’m sorry, but what he’s doing isn’t right.”

“I know it’s not right, but it’s none of our business.”

“Be that as it may, I have to say my piece.”

Sydney watched this exchange in silence.

“Look Sydney,” Trina said to her, “this isn’t something Alaric talks about, but seeing how Saul came back into the picture and is looking to do a redo on the past, this I something you need to know.”

“Is this to do with the woman Alaric loved?”

“Yeah. He told you about her?”

“He told me Saul killed her and he’s been hunting him ever since.”

Rhonda and Trina looked at each other.

“What?” Sydney asked.

“Well,” said Trina, “that’s not entirely true. What actually happened was Saul bit her, turned her, and she lost her soul, became a monster.”

Sydney’s mouth fell open. “She lost her soul?”

“She lost her soul,” Rhonda agreed. “She was one of only three vampires that Saul made who survived the transformation. His blood is so pure, so strong that most died. But she lived. And once she killed she became a true disciple of Saul.”

“And by disciple,” Trina said, “Rhonda means she became truly evil. She murdered without remorse. She reveled in death, she was above killing no one.”

“Wait a minute,” Sydney said. “Alaric told me she’s dead. That a monster killed her. That the monster was Saul.”

“Saul did kill her, just as he killed you.”

“So she’s still alive somewhere?”

“No.” Trina shook her head. “She’s had the final death.”

When Trina said no more, Sydney motioned for her to continue.

“Alaric,” Trina said. “Alaric killed her. But he didn’t have a choice,” she added quickly. “She’d become a monster. With Saul’s blood she was nearly unstoppable. She was a danger to everyone, including the Talhari.”

Sydney leaned against the wall and exhaled. “He thinks I’m going to turn out like her.”

“Lavinia,” Rhonda supplied. “Her name was Lavinia.”

“The end came when she destroyed over fifty-seven of the Talhari living in the London motherhouse. Only Paul was with Alaric at that time. He says their motherhouse received the distress call, but Umberto—Alaric served under another at that time——and the team arrived nearly too late.”

“How could one vampire kill fifty-seven vampires?” Sydney asked.

Trina laughed humorlessly. “I’m three generations removed from Saul. Even at that it took me decades to build up to the kind of speed you were born with. I looked at you as you changed, watched your body. Your nails are like steel and sharp as knives when you’re bloodlust is up. I have Intel-S imbedded in my body.”

“Smart steel.”

“Yes. But you have no need of human technology. Your bones are probably unbreakable. You will heal even as you’re wounded. You will be nearly unstoppable once you understand how to use everything you are now. Alaric is second generation and centuries old. He’s the only one of us who could even hope to put you down if you go rogue. And I say hope, because you could kill him just as easily as he could kill you. Saul would not have made you if he thought for a second he couldn’t persuade you to come to his side.”