02 Blood Roses - Blackthorn (24 page)

‘Seth?’ She narrowed her eyes. ‘But Seth was killed in a fight. Jake told me about it once.’

‘Jake didn’t know the truth. He’s only just found out.’

She frowned. ‘You? A serryn?’

‘Do you remember Sophie talking about them? When she was researching how to kill vampires?’

‘I know what a serryn is. I just want to know why the hell I didn’t know you were one?’

‘I didn’t tell either of you because there was no point. I’m inactive. Obviously.’

‘Did Grandfather know?’

‘He was the one who told me.’

‘How did
he
know?’

She couldn’t tell her the whole story – not there, not then. ‘He just did. Like with a lot of things. Please, Alisha. We have to go. Now.’

Alisha’s eyes were heavy with trepidation. ‘If Caleb knew all this, that must mean he was never going to let you go.’

‘Exactly,’ Leila remarked, her impatience lacing her tone with more sarcasm than she intended. ‘Why do you think I’m trying to get out?’

‘I am going to sort this,’ Alisha said turning on her heels.

Leila hurried up the steps and caught hold of her arm again. ‘And plead with him to let me go, like I’ve been doing all night, all day? For once in your life, listen to me, Alisha. He could be on his way already. If we don’t get out of here now, we might never get out. Trust me. Please.’ Then she said more quietly, ‘Please.’

‘If I had any idea, I never would have brought you here. You should have told me.’

‘Maybe I should have. But none of that matters now. All that matters is getting the hell out of here. Please.’

Alisha studied her eyes pensively for a moment. Then she nodded, following her down the steps.

They burst through the door at the bottom of the stairwell.

Alisha stepped up to the first doors, the first code panel. ‘I’m telling you, I only have the internal ones though.’

‘We’ll get as far as we can,’ Leila said, glancing anxiously over her shoulder.

Alisha keyed in the code and the door unlocked. They hurried through and stopped at the next set of doors.

Keying in the next code, Alisha glanced across at her sister. ‘You’re shaking, Lei.’

‘I know.’

Alisha led the way through, her and Leila all but running down to the next set of doors. She keyed in the next code and they burst through the next set of doors.

Leila stepped up to the fire-exit doors and tried to force them open. She rattled the handle before slamming her hand. ‘No!’ she snapped.

‘I warned you,’ Alisha said.

Leila looked anxiously over her shoulder in the direction they had come from then ahead again. ‘We keep going.’

‘To where?’

‘That goes into the club, right?’

‘And it’s all sealed, just like the rest of the place.’

‘The same code might work.’

‘It might, but…’

‘No buts, we have to try.’

Alisha keyed in the next code and yanked open the door.

Leila hurried over to the door that she recognised. ‘Do you know the code to the office?’

‘It’ll be the same as the others – 4328. But it’s a dead end in there.’

‘There are things we can use though. Get the next door open ready,’ she said, keying in the code and stepping into the room.

Leila marched over to the desk, to the sword displayed on the wall behind it. Placing her sandals on the desk, she lifted Caleb’s sword from the holder, the weight of the cold metal bringing the tip of the blade thudding to the floor. She caught her breath with the shock of it, her shoulders nearly wrenched from their sockets.

She grabbed her sandals and, conserving her energy, dragged the sword behind her towards the door.

Alisha stood at the open door in the corridor, her eyes widening when she looked down at the weapon. ‘What the hell are you expecting to do with that?’

‘It’s the only bit of defence we’ve got,’ Leila declared, leading the way, metal scratching against stone.

‘Defence? Just how bad is this?’

Leila looked over her shoulder. ‘Just keep moving, Alisha.’

Alisha got in front of her and keyed the code into the next set of doors. ‘You can’t use a sword? Are you crazy?’ She stopped at the next set of doors and led them out into the main club.

It was eerily silent, its emptiness emphasising their cavernous surroundings, the lighting too dim for Leila to be able to detect the corners of the expanse. She stepped forward onto the hardwood floor and looked over her shoulder at the bar that extended along the length of the back wall. Even empty it still had the lingering scent of smoke, alcohol and sex – all no doubt the very core of the booths that surrounded what she guessed to be the dance floor.

‘That’s the main door,’ Alisha said, hurrying ahead.

Leila took a few steps forward, lifting the sword from its nail-like scrape on the wooden floor.

Alisha slammed her palm against the keypad before trying another, then turned to face her sister, giving her all the right signals that they were trapped.

❄ ❄ ❄

Caleb paced as he counted, just as much about keeping himself calm as the fact he’d worked out the barrier was weakening roughly every minute or so.

She was moving fast, that was for sure.

After another minute, he placed his hand on the barrier again.

The sparks were definitely weakening.

Another minute, two, three, four passed until, thrusting his hand into the force-field again, there was nothing more than the dying momentum of a sparkler consuming its last shred of oxygen.

And he was out.

Without hesitation, he kicked the door full force, once, twice, three times. Despite it being inward opening, it buckled at the fourth kick, even the solid mahogany unable to withstand the force of his fury.

Pulling the splintered door open, he stormed out into the hallway, marched down towards the lounge, his stomach wrenching, his heart aching at the prospect of what he would find.

The lounge was empty but, as he looked up, he saw Jake striding towards him from his end of the penthouse.

‘What the fuck’s going on?’ Jake demanded, his eyes flashing concern. ‘What the hell was all that noise?’

Relief soared through him, his brother’s bewildered gaze telling him he really was clueless.

It would be her only saving grace.

‘Leila’s out,’ Caleb declared.

‘What?’

Caleb marched up the steps towards the door.

‘What do you mean she’s out?’ Jake asked, following behind him. ‘How?’

‘The clever little witch bound me in a wax circle.’

‘She bound you?’

‘Yes, Jake – bound me. Tricked me, trapped me, bound me.’

‘How did she do that?’

‘It doesn’t matter,’ Caleb said, marching down towards the elevator. He stepped inside, Jake close behind him. ‘And she’s gone for Alisha.’

‘But she can’t get out of here. She’s got to know that.’

‘She will now.’

‘What are you going to do?’

Caleb looked back at him and the troubled gaze in his eyes. He stepped out into the corridor and headed to the stairwell.

‘Caleb,’ Jake said, catching hold of him. He stepped in front of him, blocking his way, his hands to his chest. ‘Caleb, take it easy, will you?’

‘I’ll take it easy when I’ve got her,’ Caleb said, brushing past him.

Jake blocked his way again. ‘Not like this, you’re not. You need to calm down. You go after her like this and you’re going to break her in two. You need to get your head straight.’

‘My head is straight.’

‘No, it’s not,’ Jake said, pushing him back again. ‘So she tried to escape. You can’t blame her for that. But she’s going nowhere. Just calm down and then we’ll go and get her.’

‘And give her time to concoct something else?’

‘You’re furious she outsmarted you, fine. I know why you’re angry but I’m okay, Caleb. She could have come after me, but she didn’t. You must be able to see that. If she wanted me dead, I would be.’ He cupped his brother’s neck. ‘I’m okay.’

Caleb broke from his gaze and paced the width of the corridor. ‘She should have taken you down, Jake. Any self-respecting serryn would have taken you down.’

‘She’s not like them. You know it and I know it. And that’s just as much what this is about, isn’t it? You can’t get your head around it, but you’re going to have to.’

Caleb brushed past him but Jake caught his arm.

‘No,’ Jake said. ‘Sorry, Caleb. This is not her fault. She doesn’t deserve your fury or your vengeance. Don’t make her suffer for this, Caleb. Don’t make her suffer for how you feel. If you hurt her off the back of your temper, I will lose all respect for you. I mean it.’

❄ ❄ ❄

Leila scanned for other options – windows, other doors – her pulse racing at a painful rate. ‘There has to be another way out of here. You know this place. Is there a cellar? A window we can get through? The ladies’ toilets?’

‘Every window is reinforced, just like the shutters that come down. Unbreakable. Bulletproof,’ Alisha declared.

Leila dropped the sword and her sandals to the floor and swept past her sister. She rattled the handles to the front door but they didn’t budge. Instead she resorted to kicking the door with so much force that Alisha stepped back.

‘Lei!’ Alisha said startled. ‘You need to calm down. We will sort it. I will talk to Caleb. Jake will be on our side—’

‘Oh, how I’d love to live in your world for just ten minutes, Alisha,’ she said spinning to face her.

Alisha folded her arms. ‘Don’t snap at me.’

‘Then don’t say such bloody ridiculous things!’ She marched over to pick up the sword again. ‘Not every problem has a solution – not if it doesn’t involve hair, make-up or boyfriend troubles.’

‘Why are you being like this?’

‘Because I’m here because of you! I’m here because of what you got yourself involved in! Because you wouldn’t listen to me! And now everything Grandfather taught us about is going to happen. The world we know is going to be over because of us!’

Alisha’s startled gaze narrowed in confusion. ‘What the hell are you talking about?’

‘There’s a leader, Alisha. A destined vampire leader. Surely you remember that from Grandfather’s teachings?’

‘I remember something about it. But that’s just a fairytale.’

It came out before she had time to even think of the implications. ‘No, Alisha, it’s not. And it sure as hell isn’t for me. The vampire leader needs to sacrifice a serryn to instigate the prophecy.’

Alisha took a step back, horror merging with confusion.

‘Caleb’s the leader, Alisha.’

Alisha’s eyes flared. She shook her head. She laughed nervously. ‘This is some kind of wind-up, right?’

‘Do I look like I’m winding you up? He needs to kill me. The freedom of his entire kind depends on it.
Now
do you understand? I can’t be near him, Alisha. He triggers things. Things I can’t control. And for every moment I spend with him, I become more and more what he wants me to be.’

Alisha heaved a shaky sigh. ‘What have I done?’

Regret struck Leila deep. She stared at her sister for a moment then stepped back over to her. She gently brushed Alisha’s hair back from her face. ‘I’m sorry, Alisha. I didn’t mean to go off on you like that. You didn’t know. You couldn’t possibly. This isn’t your fault.’

‘It looks like it from where I’m standing. It looks like this is
all
my fault.’

Leila sighed heavily, lowered her head before scanning the room and looking back at her sister. ‘Alisha, I need you to listen to me. It’s really important.’

Alisha stared at her with her glossy eyes.

‘If we don’t get out of here, I need you to take every opportunity you can to drink a vampire’s blood – Jake’s preferably.’

Her eyes widened. ‘What?’

‘It’s more important than you know.’

‘Why? What’s going on?’

‘It’s the only way to stop the line jumping.’

Alisha stared at her.

‘It doesn’t work if you’re a serryn already,’ Leila explained. ‘But if anything happens to me—’

‘What do you mean, “if anything happens”? It only jumps if…’ She grabbed her sister’s hand. ‘No. No, you are not going to do anything stupid.’

‘You’re going to be okay. As soon as this place opens, the first opportunity you get, you’re going to be gone.’

‘I’m not leaving you.’

‘I will find a way through this, but I can only do that without you here. You always go on at me to let you take some responsibility, so here it is. You do everything you can to get yourself out of here.’

‘And do what? Go where? With vampire blood in me I’ll have nowhere
to
go. I’m not doing this. I can’t.’

‘You can,’ Leila said, grabbing her hand and squeezing. ‘And you will. You need to contact the VCU. You need to tell them everything. They have to know what’s coming. And you have to find Sophie.’

‘Sophie can look after herself. She knows what she’s doing.’ She heaved a frustrated sigh, pulled away, her hands clenched in her hair. ‘I should have told you. Why the hell didn’t I tell you? Then none of this would be happening.’

Leila frowned. She knew a guilty look on her sister’s face like no one else did. ‘Tell me what?’

Alisha shook her head, but Leila could see the panic in her eyes.

‘Alisha?’ she said again, despite the gut feeling that she didn’t want to hear what was to come. ‘What should you have told me?’

But the door burst open, two outlines appearing in the dimness across the dance floor. She didn’t need to see him clearly – every single hair that stood up on the back of her neck told her Caleb had found her.

Leila caught hold of Alisha and tugged her behind her. With all her strength she lifted the sword off the floor, unable to do anything but let the flat of the blade temporarily fall onto her shoulder, nearly buckling as it did so. She’d swing with all she was worth if he came a step closer. She knew she’d only get one attempt but she’d do whatever small amount of damage she could.

Caleb strolled towards her, each step steady but purposeful, Jake close behind him.

He stopped just a couple of feet away, glanced down at the sword, his eyes glinting with amusement as he looked back up at her again. ‘There was a time when handling a male’s sword was a crime punishable by death.’