Chapter 10 #2
I open the door and close it behind us.
“What are you doing?” Samuel asks, even as a hopeful smile starts creeping onto his face. “I don’t think Ian was kidding when he said he’d take my eyes out.”
“Shut up,” I say with a roll of my eyes and the shake of my head. “That’s never going to happen.”
“Never say never, sweet cakes.” He winks at me.
“Never,” I say with a raised eyebrow, but a smile does cross my lips. “But…you said you’re hungry. And I can’t let you feed on my party goers, but…” I raise my wrist up, leaving it exposed before his lips.
Samuel gives me a confused expression, but his eyes go back to the tender flesh of my wrist. “You…you’re offering your blood? Are you serious?” His eyes flick back to mine.
I nod and meet his eyes. “You took a risk coming here, to my House. That isn’t lost on me. If you really will be a member of my House, I will take care of you.”
Something shifts in Samuel’s eyes. They soften. His gaze deepens.
He doesn’t look away as he hesitantly grabs my wrist and brings it to his lips.
Even when his fangs extend. Even when they sink into my flesh.
My mind goes numb and my body freezes as the vampire toxin sinks into my system. The world seems hazy and I don’t really have a single thought rolling around in my head.
It’s terrifying. But it’s also kind of blissful.
There’s no plotting. No scheming.
I just am.
It can’t be more than a minute or so later when Samuel’s teeth retract from my wrist. He licks the puncture wounds and I only somewhat process it when I see them close up, not a trace of what happened left.
“You okay?” he asks hesitantly. He holds onto me gingerly and helps lower me onto the vacant bed.
Slowly, so very slowly, the fog in my brain beings to clear. My vision makes sense again. I can feel my toes, my fingers. “Yeah,” I say airily. “I’m okay.”
“I don’t think I took too much,” Samuel says. He hasn’t let go of my hand. He watches me intently. “I’m usually pretty good.”
I nod again, my senses rushing back to me. I turn my head side to side, clearing the haze away. “I’m just fine. You did good.”
Samuel chuckles and shakes his head. “You’re one crazy chick, Alivia Ryan. But I feel like you know exactly what you’re doing. Thank you.”
I place my hand on his cheek for a moment and offer a small smile. “You are very welcome. Now let’s get back to the party so you can actually enjoy it.”
He helps me to my feet and then offers an arm. I loop mine through it, and together we step back out into the hall.
The foyer is crowded, bodies occupying every space. We have to fight our way through.
“King Cyrus desires a meeting in five weeks time.”
I whip around, searching the crowd for the face to the whisper. My eyes race through the masses, my heart instantly in my throat.
“Did you hear that?” I hiss at Samuel.
“What?” he asks absentmindedly as he takes a glass of Champagne from the server.
“He’s here,” I say, my voice rising in volume. “King Cyrus’ spy is here.”
Samuel is instantly alert, scanning the crowd with far more enhanced eyes than mine. “I’ll take a look around. You have a party to attend to.”
Without another word, Samuel is gone.
The slightest movement on the staircase draws my eyes upward.
It’s Ian. And he has an action-ready look on his face, scanning the crowd.
“Don’t,” I breathe. Not even the crowd around me would be able to hear me, but I know Ian can. And his eyes suddenly meet mine. “Don’t make a scene right now. Samuel is taking care of it. It’s your time now. This is it.”
I see him swallow hard, but he gives a slow nod.
I make my way through the crowd, to the bottom of the stairs. And draw attention to myself as I do. Eyes follow me, curiosity at the vampire princess in a town that won’t talk about what they know about the night.
But I don’t look at any of them. My eyes are for Ian only.
He descends the stairs, and with his movement, attention is drawn to him.
I hear one quick intake of breath…two. Low voices begin whispering. But I stare at Ian.
He looks nervous, which is so not him. But then again, he’s just become everything he despises. Many know of his hatred of the vampires. And here he is, alive, after being dead.
When he reaches the bottom step, he offers his arm and the foyer is dead silent.
“I think we did this backwards,” he leans over and breathes. “Isn’t it you that’s supposed to make the sweeping entry down the grand staircase?”
A little laugh bubbles up out of my chest.
The door opens once more, letting in my latest guest. But when I turn to look at who has arrived, everything goes cold and dark in my chest.
Elle stands there in a pale pink, simple dress, staring with a white face and doe eyes at her very alive brother.
“Elle,” Ian breathes.
She doesn’t say anything. She just stares at him with those wide eyes, but eerily calm demeanor of hers. I see her swallow once.
Before she turns around and walks back out the door.
“Elle,” Ian calls. He lets go of me and takes off after her into the dark. He closes the front door after himself.
I stare at the door, feeling a little hollow hole form in my chest.
I close my eyes.
Count to ten.
Take a deep breath.
And turn around to the deadly silent crowd behind me.
“Thank you all for coming,” I say loudly. I hadn’t planned to make a speech. But here we are. “I really appreciate you all being here to celebrate my twenty-third birthday with me. Being new to Silent Bend isn’t an easy thing when so many have such deep roots.”
So many eyes are glued to me. They blink back, scrutinize me. Look unsure. Others are so very curious.
“I never knew my father,” I say, holding my chin high. “I didn’t even know he existed until I got a copy of his will. I’m just a simple girl from Colorado who discovered this other life that existed on the other side of the country.”
I wipe my palms on my dress. This is a paradigm. This could change so much. I have to do it right. Lillian walks to my side and hands me a glass.
“You know, my mother died when I was nineteen,” I continue.
My voice grows softer, and half the crowd leans toward me, gripping my every word.
“I thought I was alone. So when I learned about the Conrath Estate, about this town, I felt like slightly less of an orphan. Thank you for being my family, Silent Bend.” I raise my glass to them in a toast.
Those with their own glasses raise them. Low murmurs echo throughout the crowd.
But I can feel a shift.
No longer am I the devil offspring of a man they feared. I’m the girl who never knew that man. A girl with no parents. A girl just looking for her new family in a new town.
As if sensing my speech is over, the crowd shifts, heading to other places, resuming conversations.
Lillian leans in. “Well done.”
But I feel slightly sick inside. Like I’ve just manipulated everyone into thinking I’m a better person than perhaps I really am.
“That was some speech.”
The crowd parts, and up walks Anna Burke of the false House of Royals.
She wears the same black tulle and leather dress she wore to what would have been my bloodletting. Her hair is in soft waves around her face. She looks absolutely stunning and intimidating.
“Thank you for coming,” I say. Everything in me tightens just slightly. Every single move I make, every tiny breath I take is all in play now. I can never slip up, even for a second. “I’m glad you felt comfortable enough to come.”
“You sure have stirred the shit pot with Jasmine,” she says with a small smile. “And I told you it wouldn’t be long that you’d keep yourself away from our kind.”
I loop my arm through Anna’s, Lillian on my other side, and we begin making our way to the ballroom. “Circumstances change old resolutions.”
“I have to wonder if Jasmine knew you were in love with Ian Ward when she collected him for you to drain,” Anna says. She looks around the room, but it isn’t with the wonder of most. “It sounds like a game she’d play just because she can.”
“Anna,” Samuel coos from behind us. We turn to find him with his usual coy smile. “You’re looking stunning this evening.”
She barely resists rolling her eyes. “Give it up, Samuel.”
“Never,” he taunts her. “And, I’m not finding anyone, Alivia. Whoever this spy is, he’s good.”
“Spy?” Anna asks.
I explain to her what has been going on and watch her face closely as I do so. I need to feel her out.
She’s curious—and intrigued.
“He said five weeks?” Anna repeats. “That’s not very much time. You feel like you’re prepared?”
I give the smallest of shrugs. “I think there are few circumstances anyone can ever be fully prepared for. I will do my best and deal with the reality when it arrives. But I wondered if you’d be up for a job I don’t think anyone is more qualified for than you.”
“A job?” she repeats. She looks doubtful, but also interested.
I nod. “I need to know more from this spy. I am tired of him sneaking around and I don’t like looking over my shoulder. I want to talk to him face to face. But, seeing as I’m still human, it’s a little difficult to do on my own.”
“Your boyfriend used to track our kind down as a human and did a pretty damn fine job of it,” Anna says. She’s testing me out, feeling how committed I really am. “Why not ask him?”
I look up at Samuel, who gives a little chuckle, and Lillian, who gives me a knowing look. “Ian is…torn about his new condition. I’m trying not to push too much.”
“You’re afraid to ask him,” she calls me out.
“Yes,” I admit, no shame. “I have a feeling he’s going to not be around as much for a little while. His sister just found out, in a not so gentle way, that her brother is still alive.”
Anna looks at me for a long moment. She looks over at Lillian, searching her. She glances at Samuel. There’s something unspoken that goes on between them, like he has the ability to tell her what I’ve just done for him.
“I was alone for over a century,” Anna says as she looks back at me.
“I thought I was a strong person, but the loneliness nearly drove me suicidal. I found Jasmine and her House and I joined them out of desperation, but I was always her pawn and she made it obvious that I wasn’t needed for anything other than numbers. ”
“I promise that you will never be just a number in my House,” I say, holding her eyes and putting as much loyalty as I can into her gaze. “I’m asking you to be my General, Anna.”
Once again, Anna looks from me, to Samuel, to Lillian.
“Alivia is not like Jasmine,” Lillian says. And there’s so much trust and surety in her voice, it leaves me slightly breathless.
“Things are different here. This is how a House is supposed to be,” Samuel says.
“You have my loyalty if I can count on yours,” I promise Anna as she looks back at me.
A small smile pulls on the corner of Anna’s lips when she says, “You’ve got yourself a General.”