CHAPTER THIRTY THREE #2
“I’ve been undercover for over a century,” he continued, like he was talking about the weather, not casually dismantling my entire understanding of him.
“I work under my maker’s instruction. He is influential in our home land, but not enough to bring about change from the top.
So we’ve been working in secret, in underground networks.
Quietly dismantling it all from within.”
I blinked at him.
Once.
Twice.
“And Marlette?” I asked slowly. Does she know?”
“No. Not everything.” That answer came far too easily.
“Wait—” I shook my head. “How do I fit into this?” I think I knew what he was going to say. I must have been important for him to risk everything for me. But I wasn’t quite ready to believe it. I was no one.
“You’re the key. The one we’ve been waiting for. The prophesied one.”
I shook my head. No I wasn’t. I couldn’t be.
“The prophesied one?” I scoffed. “That’s what you’re going with?”
“Yes.”
“What if you’re wrong?”
“I’m not.”
The certainty in his voice made something twist uncomfortably in my chest.
“And what exactly is the prophecy?”
“Long ago, a seer prophesied that one day, someone with power greater than anyone had ever seen would arrive and take us back to how things are supposed to be. Someone that will have the power to dismantle vampire society as we know it. At least, that’s how we’ve interpreted it.
Valerius believes himself to be the prophesied one, and he’s been searching for some power source to allow him to take on his father. ”
I shook my head. It was too much. Too much that I didn’t understand and I wanted to argue, but I couldn’t. Not with Claire out there.
I’d have to ignore all of that for now, save it for another day because I couldn’t split my mind right now. I hated these damn vampires so fucking much.
I had to focus on Claire, my mind wouldn’t allow anything else.
“So,” I said after a moment, exhaling slowly. “This blood pact, how does it work?”
“We mix our blood,” he explained, already reaching for the blade at his side. “And swear under it. Binding. In our case, I will swear my allegiance to you. You… to keep what I’ve told you to yourself unless it aids you.”
“That’s it?”
“That’s it,” he repeated,
“And what if you break your word?”
He met my gaze, unflinching. “Then I suffer from the curse of breaking it, in other words insufferable pain,” he said, slicing his palm with the blade.
His blood welled immediately and before I could back out, I took the knife from him and did the same to my palm.
Our hands came together, our blood mixing.
Warm and wet.
“I swear upon my blood and yours,” he began, his voice steady despite the weight of what we were doing.
“That I, Davien Sartini, made by Cathal Callahan of Callamore, Lord of Carraig Point will protect you, Ailsa, with all my might, including my life should it come to it. I swear to never betray you again.”
And in turn, I swore to protect his secret.
The words settled into me, heavy and real.
Binding.
I swallowed hard, my fingers tightening slightly against his.
This was insane.
All of it, yet when we finally pulled apart, the air felt different.
He didn’t say anything else, just turned and grabbed a packet of cigarettes from his back pocket and held one out to me. When had he even picked up a pack?
“Thought you might need this,” he said.
I huffed a quiet, humourless laugh, taking it from him. “You think?”
He lit it for me without comment.
I took a long drag, letting the burn settle something jagged inside my chest as I leaned back against the wall, staring ahead.
“Okay” I said, exhaling smoke slowly. “So what’s the plan, I assume you have one?”
There was no point in beating around the bush with this. Action was needed. I was done hiding.
Davien rolled his tongue against his gums as he nodded. “We’ll need to be careful. Valerius… he’s not like other vampires. Like you—obviously—he’s a true born and he’s clever. But unlike you, he has full control over his abilities and he’s without a doubt a deranged psychopath. He’s dangerous.”
I rubbed at my temples as I took in his words.
“You’re sure we’re related?” I asked, because quite frankly I still hadn’t wrapped my head around that.
Davien nodded. “Unfortunately…” he paused for a heartbeat, as though searching for the right words. “Your family—”
“They’re not my family,” I cut him off. Because they simply weren’t. Claire was my only family.
“Well whatever you call want to them, they are powerful and downright terrifying. My advice would still be to avoid them at all costs, but since you’ve made it clear that’s not an option, we’ll have to be smarter and play him at his own game. And maybe, maybe we’ll walk away with our lives.”
“Okay, let’s go over everything then.”
We spent the next few hours meticulously planning everything.
Well, as much as we could. Davien seemed fairly set on the idea of Valerius likely doing something unhinged.
The more I heard about this supposed family member of mine, the more worried I got.
He seemed to thrive on terror and chaos and I was terrified what that meant for Claire.
Any intel Davien had tried to gain from his assets had led to no further clarification about her whereabouts or what Valerius was doing with her.
Dominic had also disappeared. There hadn’t been any sighting of him since the news of Claire’s abduction, and I feared what that meant.
I was in so deep that I couldn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel.
But I’d fight for her, for Dominic too. I’d give them my all.
I just hoped it would be enough.