22. Rose
Rose
“I still think we should wait for the others,” Valtu says to me under his breath as the taxicab careens around a corner, honking at people spilling onto the street.
We’ve just left our hotel in the Sultanahmet district, the cab driver expertly navigating the chaos of the Old Town, and are about to head through the Eurasia Tunnel to the other side of the Bosphorus Strait.
“You said that Abe couldn’t get a hold of my parents,” I point out.
I tried to get in touch with them through Valtu’s cell, but they didn’t answer me either.
“Who knows how long they’ll take. Maybe they won’t even come.
I know my dad will want to come and fuck things up, but I don’t see him letting my mom do this. He’s very protective of her.”
“He also said that Lenore and Solon were on their way to Oregon. They stayed in touch with Dylan,” he says.
“But again, we don’t know when they’ll get here,” I tell him. “Anyway, I’m not planning on doing anything now. I just want to see if I can pinpoint their position. If the witches are still in that building, and perhaps that’s where they always go, then we can ambush them.”
He gives me a stern look. “I mean it, Rose. No ambushing until we know what we’re up against and until we’ve got enforcements. We may have the power that the book gave us, but we haven’t been wielding it long and we have no idea how formidable they might be.”
I glance at the cabbie in the rear-view mirror. He’s humming along to the music on the radio and not paying us any attention, the air freshener swinging back and forth as he drives.
“Fine,” I say. “I don’t want to do anything either.”
Though I can’t promise that I won’t strike Bellamy with lightning if I see him.
I honestly don’t know what I’ll do if we come face to face.
Just thinking about it I feel my chest going tight with bottled rage and I want to tear him apart, limb from limb.
What did Valtu say he wanted to do the other day?
Rip off his head and piss on it? Yeah, that seems about right.
I take in a deep breath and Valtu puts his hand on my leg, giving my knee a squeeze.
I stare out the window just as we head into the tunnel and I’m looking at my own reflection in the glass.
Sometimes I wonder which version of myself I’m looking at.
We left Germany so fast that it’s taken a couple of days to actually let it sink in that I’m in Turkey.
Not only that, but that I’ve actually seen my brother through Bellamy’s eyes.
The end is near, I can just feel it.
The problem is, I don’t know if it’s the end of us or the end of Bellamy’s reign.
Or the end of me.
Once again.
“And voila,” Valtu says as we start to climb out of the tunnel, now on the other side of the water. “Welcome to the continent of Asia.”
I look behind me at where we just came from, the European side. Just wild.
Another five minutes, and the cab is dropping us off by the water, along a mix of industrial buildings and shipping containers and the occasional café that looks closed.
We step out of the cab and it drives off, the driver giving us a funny look as he goes. Maybe we’re in a bad area. Too bad he doesn’t know that we’re the bad things that other people are afraid of.
“Well, as far as evil villain lairs, this seems to be pretty spot on,” Valtu says, looking around the warehouses. “Though I would have thought witches would have picked a more aesthetically pleasing area. You know how they love their goth shit.”
I laugh. “Excuse me, Mr. I Live in a Monastery Carved into a Mountainside with a Literal Torture Chamber . The only thing you’re missing is a coffin.”
His brow goes up in amusement. “You ever try sleeping in one of those things? They’re actually quite comfortable.” He sticks his hands in the pockets of his leather jacket. “Well? Where to?”
I close my eyes and try to get a read by clearing my mind, which is easier said than done.
I focus on Bellamy and my hatred for him, the betrayal, zeroes in on him like a laser.
It’s easier now that we’re closer to him and I feel a little sick at being so close to his presence.
“It feels like he’s coming from over there,” I say, pointing to the left, my eyes still closed in concentration.
“And I think he’s in the same building as I saw before. ”
“Do you see Leif?”
I try to look around but I’m seeing through Bellamy’s eyes and he’s looking at an apple, of all things, turning it over in his hand as if he’s pondering whether to eat it or not. What a psycho. “No. I don’t see him.”
“Okay, well let’s go over there then, see if you recognize anything.
” Valtu puts his hand at my lower back and guides me along the street as we pass a building.
On the other side is a narrow road that goes between a mix of brick two-story businesses and metal warehouses and there’s something pulling me down it, like an invisible tug.
“Down here,” I say, leading Valtu now. It’s strangely deserted though I can hear metalwork and chatter in Turkish and other noises coming from inside the warehouses.
We’re a couple of hours away from sunset but it feels dark as the buildings loom over us, and the street gets more narrow as it leads to the docks.
“Where are you taking me?” Valtu asks as I grab his hand and pull him down a narrow alley.
When we approach the next street, I recognize one of the buildings further down the road.
It’s got the look of a small, old cathedral.
Very old, considering the front has crumbled away, the remains spread out on the street, like there had been recent earthquake damage that no one bothered to fix.
“I think that’s it,” I whisper to Valtu. “Come on.”
He reaches out and grabs me by the elbow, yanking me back into the shadows of the alley. “What do you think you’re doing?”
I glare at his grip and shrug out of it. “Well, I need to see if they’re there.”
“And then what?”
I open my mouth, then close it, thinking of what the next move should be. Kill Bellamy? I don’t know.
As I’m doing that, I see Dylan stepping out of the door to that old cathedral and start walking down the street toward the water.
Except it’s not Dylan of course, but it’s Leif, his twin.
He’s wearing army green head-to-toe, like a uniform of some sort, and looks exactly like a bulkier version of my brother.
His hair is the same gold brown, eyes the same hazel, and he has an impressive beard that Dylan would be extremely jealous of.
“What the hell,” I utter, not believing my eyes. But it’s him .
I twist around to Valtu. “Stay here!” I hiss at him. And then I’m bolting across the street to Leif as he continues to march past, not even looking in my direction.
“Rose!” Valtu whispers harshly after me but he’s staying where he is for now.
I keep my focus on my brother. Because it is my brother. It has to be.
“Leif!” I call out as I jog toward him.
Leif stops and looks at me in confusion just as another person exits the same building, walking toward us quickly.
“Do I know you?” Leif asks, brows furrowing.
“Uh…”
He gives me a puzzled look and then keeps walking toward the docks, glancing over his shoulder at me, then over at Valtu, as he goes.
“Rose,” Valtu hisses.
“Hey!” the guy approaching me says and I look to see who I assume is Atlas Poe. I’d never met the witch, but I knew of him. He looks like a pale, sniveling moody motherfucker, dressed all in black but not making it look half as elegant as Valtu does. “What do you want with him?”
“That guy? Oh, he, uh, he just looks like someone I know,” I say, staring at Leif as he walks off in hopes he somehow remembers me, but of course he doesn’t have any idea who I am. We’ve never met before.
“Then how did you know his name?” Atlas asks, his eyes narrowing and growing hard. Suddenly he breathes in sharply through his nose and the hardness in his eyes turns to flint. “ Vampire ,” he seethes.
Oh fuck.
I turn to run but Atlas is on me with such force that we go flying through the air.
“Rose!” I hear Valtu scream just as Atlas slams me back against a building across the street, the plaster crumbling from the impact, and he whips out the glowing silver and blue blade of mordernes from inside his coat.
And so this is how I die this time around , I can’t help but think, the irony not lost on me, even now.
I scream, trying to struggle, but Atlas is fast and he plunges the blade right into my chest where it glows blue and hisses and burns and I’m screaming again, bloody murder.
Then Valtu is there, tackling Atlas to the ground with a primal roar, and then suddenly it’s just Valtu, Atlas having disappeared completely beneath him.
“What the fuck?” Valtu cries out, searching for Atlas and finding nothing, then gets to his feet and staggers over to me.
“Rose,” he says tightly as he grabs my shoulders, helping to hold me up.
I already have my hand around the hilt of the blade.
I remember it like it was yesterday, how easily it was to wield this thing as Dahlia and I’m aware that I probably should be dead right now.
The blow is instant when it comes to vampires.
“Oh god,” Valtu whispers his face wrought with horror as he stares at the blade. “Rose, Rose.”
“I can pull it out,” I say, wincing hard as I try to yank it out of my chest. It’s not budging. The pain is excruciating, hot tears spilling over and streaming down my face. But underneath the agony I can still feel my heart beating. “I think he missed,” I manage to say.
Valtu’s eyes fill with hope and he puts his hands over mine and with one sharp tug we manage to get the blade out of my chest.
I grip it hard in my hands, the handle seeming to fuse to my palm, while he takes off his leather jacket and presses it against my chest to staunch the bleeding.