Chapter Fourteen
As Rhysallhan started ascending the pitch-dark staircase of his family’s mansion, he couldn’t believe he had another sterling silver candlestick in his hand.
It wasn’t the one he’d turned into a murder weapon, but the beeswax stalk lighting his way was absolutely the same as what he’d removed and left on the dining room sideboard.
Beneath his numb feet, the steps creaked, and given the lull in the thunderstorms, everything seemed very loud. Perhaps that was because the lights remained extinguished, and lack of sight did tend to heighten one’s other instincts.
Or maybe he was on edge because he’d just, you know, killed someone.
Killed his own father.
Their own father.
When he got to the raincoat that his sister had dropped in her upset, he gathered the wet folds and kept on going.
At the second story’s landing, he looked back and forth, and wished they had a generator.
Old houses, though. Even if the Caldwell electrical grid had been updated over the decades, this estate had not been. And now it would never be.
At least not by anybody from their family.
As he started down to the left, he thought of generators, and how they’d probably have needed a commercial-grade unit to run the entire house. But at least if they’d had one, he could have turned the security system on.
And been sure that the slayer his father had been dealing with was not trying to reenter through other doors, other windows.
He’d checked the lock on the front door twice before he’d come up here to find Carmen. Nothing felt strong enough, though.
Fates, had he really just spoken with a lesser? Had he really just promised the enemy the locations of the Black Dagger Brotherhood’s primary residences?
But what choice had he had? It was either that or he and his sister were both going to end up dead tonight. That slayer had come looking for the information he’d paid Chritophe for… or blood.
Arriving at Carmen’s bedroom door, Rhysallhan knocked softly. “Sister mine?”
When there was no answer, he rapped with his knuckles once more. “Carmen, you do not have to say anything. Just listen to me.”
As he swallowed through a tight throat, his mind dipped back to when he’d been downstairs, negotiating in the darkness with the enemy of all that was right and moral in the vampire world, making a deal with the devil.
Actually, it was more stepping into the deal their father had set.
“Carmen, I want you to know that I am leaving this house after tonight and I shall never return. I have… made the future safe for you. You and Theo are free to be mated. This is best for the both of us. The only way… this all could have ended.”
When there was no response, he rested his head on the cool panels. With his heart pounding, he had to breathe harder and opened his mouth. That way, he couldn’t smell the blood of their father on his clothes as much.
“I wish there was a way to explain everything,” he said. “You must trust that I have my reasons, and they are more than sound—”
The door opened without warning, and he pitched forward, nearly falling on his sister.
Somehow, he managed to recover and keep his balance, but as wax splashed on his wrist, he hissed out a curse and clearly scared her more.
With a shriek and a scamper, she bolted out of the trembling, golden aura of candlelight.
Before she could say anything, he begged, “You cannot call the Brotherhood, Carmen. If Theothore’s family finds out what I have done, they will never consent to a mating and you will be an outcast. You will be left with no one.”
He moved forward into her room, hoping to see her face, meet her eyes. As if proximity equated with persuasion.
“Don’t come any closer!”
A restless shaft of lightning illuminated her crouched form. She was all the way on the far side of her bed, and holding up her cell phone like it was a homing beacon for aid.
“Of course I shall call the Brotherhood.” As the lightning flash faded, darkness consumed her once more, only her voice giving away her location. “You are a murderer. You killed my father!”
Our, he corrected in his head.
“You cannot summon them,” he repeated. “You will ruin your life, Carmen. Where I must go, and what I must do now, is nothing you can be a part of, so without Theo and his bloodline, you will be all alone—”
“You do not stand there, covered in my sire’s blood, and seek to advise me on anything!”
“I will not leave you to fend for yourself—”
“I do not want to know you!”
There was a rustling as she came back at him. On the edge of the yellow glow, she shoved the phone forward and made sure he saw her hit send.
“You are a murderer,” she said in a quavering voice. “A murderer!”
As the ringing sound of a call going through rippled across the tense silence between them, Rhysallhan felt a cold shaft of fear.
“You are sealing your own fate,” he said in a low voice. “Theo will never mate you if this gets out. His bloodline may be beneath ours, but they are still aristocrats, after all. Hate me if you must, but I implore you to think of your future and be logical about it.”
The second ring seemed even louder than the first. Then came the click of a connection made.
“Hello,” a male voice said through the tinny speaker of her phone. “What is your emergency.”
“He hurt you,” Rhysallhan whispered. “When you were but a child. Do not make a saint out of that male just because he’s dead.”
“Hello,” the voice repeated. “Do you need assistance?”
Carmen hung up with a look of horror. “Get out.”
“No.” Rhysallhan slowly shook his head as he extended her raincoat forward.
“Here is the way we’re going to handle this.
You’re going to put this back on, and you’re going to go open that window by your bureau.
You’re going to dematerialize to Theo’s house.
You’re going to be rattled and that will be appropriate because you’re going to tell him that Father and I have had to return to the family seat in the Old Country immediately.
Although you are upset about our departure, you will explain that this is good news for the pair of you. ”
As lightning prowled around the windows, he watched his sister take her coat and hug her arms around herself.
“You will explain that we must go defend our ancestral property against humans and it is not safe for you.” His voice grew tight. “This will make our actions both honorable and emergent, and will be a legacy worthy of you and your standing in the glymera.”
Rhysallhan reached inside his jacket and took out a roll of parchment from which silk ribbons of yellow, black, and bright blue trailed.
“You will give them this proclamation of approval and permission for your hand in mating, which is signed by our—” He cleared his throat and inclined his head.
“By your father, and notarized by the King. They will be overjoyed that your sire is granting you in favor of their son, and you will tell them that you wish to have the ceremony sooner rather than later, given the danger your father and I are in, and the very real possibility that we will not return.”
“W-w-where did you get that,” she stammered. “H-how did the King sign it. How did our father—”
“None of that matters now. The only thing that is important is that you’re safe and staying with Theo’s family.
You must not come back here after you leave tonight.
Theo will insist that your things be retrieved.
Our doggen will arrive at his door with all your belongings by the end of the night.
And before you inquire, I will ensure our servants are well cared for financially before I depart, and certainly if you wish to take any of them, you are welcome to do so if they may be accommodated at Theo’s family’s estate. ”
“You had this all planned,” she moaned.
“Yes, I did. This is the only way to keep you safe and happy. This is what you’ve always wanted, what your father was going to deny you—”
“Do not make this about me!” Hysteria rang in her every syllable. “You chose to—oh, dearest Lassiter above, you chose this! I never asked you to solve my heartbreak thus or to ahvenge whatever you think happened when I was a young!”
“He was going to get us killed, Carmen. And that is all you can know. The fewer details you have, the better.”
For a moment, there was only her gasping breath. “You lie.” She jabbed a finger at the parchment. “That’s a forgery.”
“I am not lying about the danger you are in.” He cursed. “Enough talking. You need to go now, and do exactly what I’ve said.”
“I do not want to ever see you again—”
“I am taking care of that.” He jogged the parchment at her. “It is not safe for you to be anywhere around me. Leave this house and do not return. All has been seen to so that you will be where you want and need to be. With the male you love.”
For a split second, he feared she was going to continue to fight him, and he glanced back at the open bedroom door.
He should have locked them in together for safety because the lesser could have come back for any number of reasons.
Yet as he refocused on his sister’s wide, tearful eyes, he knew she would have panicked and thrown herself out of the window if he’d closed them in.
“Hate me if it makes it easier.” He did his best to keep his emotions in check. “Just please, take care of yourself and your future. And never, ever speak of this to anybody. Forget you ever knew me or this house… or that monster down in the conservatory.”
When Carmen finally reached out her hand, it shook so badly, she nearly dropped the decree, and then as she struggled to put the raincoat on, he wanted to help her. Especially when it hung off-kilter.
But frantic was what they wanted.
“Tell Theo and his family that we must defend tracts of our family’s land in the Old Country,” he repeated so he was sure she got it right.
“Humans are seeking to develop our legacy properties there. Father and I had to leave this night and we are facing danger. As you are a female, they will not expect you to have been given any details of the dealings, and they will also recognize the topic as a private family affair. They will be so happy to have you, and to announce the mating, they will accept it all without question. And there will be plenty of chaperones there so your honor will remain intact.”
Carmen cradled the parchment roll to her heart and glared at him. “You are not coming to the mating.”
“You will never see me again after tonight.” He closed his eyes.
And then had to keep going. “A week from now, a letter is going to arrive for you at Theo’s address.
It will be couriered over from the King’s own Audience House for it will be delivered there.
It will inform you that Father and I have been killed, and be signed by distant cousins who have been trying to reach you and have been unsuccessful.
You will be… inconsolable, but following the appropriate period of mourning, you will be mated to the male you love and go on to live a happy, safe life. ”
“How long have you been planning this,” she demanded.
As soon as he’d figured out what their father was doing to restore the family’s finances. And with whom.
“It is done. That is all that matters.”
Rhysallhan went over to the window by her antique bureau and parted the heavy satin drapery. He had to put his shoulder into lifting the sash because he was so weak, and he reminded himself that it would not always be thus. Someday he would be through his transition, and be stronger.
Assuming he didn’t die in the course of this scheming.
But as long as his sister was safe, that was all that mattered.
“Go,” he told her as the sweet scent of the garden entered in a damp rush. “Theo and his family will encircle you with care—and never attempt to come back here. I do not want anybody anywhere near this house. Consider it… cursed.”
For what felt like an eternity, Carmen stayed where she was, the coat sloppily hanging from her thin body, her blue eyes swimming with tears, that parchment supporting the union with her beloved held tightly at her sternum.
“I have thought of everything.” He spoke in what he hoped was a reassuring tone. In reality, he wanted to yell at her because he had a lot of things to clean up before the doggen returned. “This is the way it must be.”
She jerked to attention and looked at him. “How is this real.”
“Over the last several weeks, I have often wondered the same thing. Go now.”
At last, she followed his command, heading over to the window and staring out into the night. The sounds of rain on the tree outside her room were soft, and as he listened to the gentle taps on the leaves, he realized that the wind had died off.
“How ever shall I dematerialize,” she whispered.
“Calm yourself by thinking of your bright, happy future.”
As his voice cracked on the last word, Carmen looked back at him. “You do not know that anything happened to me… that anything was done by…”
Rhysallhan nodded gravely. “And neither does anybody else.”
He could have sworn she nodded back at him, but maybe it was just a figment of the candle’s light.
After that… his sister was gone.
Forever.