Broken (21 page)

Over the next couple of weeks, Atticus worked to get ready to leave England as secretly as possible. In order to not alert his father to his plans, he had decided to harvest solely the blood of animals for the journey. Normally a number of humans would make a sea voyage with them but he wasn't willing to take the chance of any word getting out that he was acquiring humans. Knowing that he was being monitored, he had taken to draining some blood from the horses in the stable on a daily basis.

Merle took the bottled blood to his ship in saddlebags and hidden under his tunic at night and stashed it in the cargo hold. Merle had two humans already living on board his ship, but that wouldn't be enough to supply four vampires for a possible month or more without risking the lives of the humans. That was if the journey only took a month, none of them were familiar with this trip and they wouldn't be traveling with the normal amount of crew that such a journey required. It would only be him and Merle navigating the unfamiliar waters. That was why he planned to stash at least enough blood to get them through two months at sea.

Genny also gathered blood from the animals that she and Camille hunted in the woods. This wasn't a deviation from her normal routine, and neither was bringing the animals home so he doubted anyone would question it, especially when the animals were released out the door again for everyone to see, just as they always had been. The only deviation was that he or Arturo was always by Genny's side when she entered the woods, he didn't dare leave her alone after his father's threat.

When it was finally time to leave, there would only be two trunks of clothing going with them onto the ship. Everything else would be left behind and he was perfectly content with that.

Atticus climbed the stairs to the second floor of the manor and followed the call of his blood within Genny's veins down the hall. He found her kneeling before her trunk with her clothing scattered around her as she rearranged the things within it. He smiled when he spotted the parchment rolled up within. "Will you ever let me read what you have written?"

She smiled up at him and replaced the false bottom. "You never know, it's going to be a long journey," she replied teasingly.

"I have something else planned for that time," he told her with a wink.

She laughed as she rose to her feet and wiped her hands on her tunic. She stood on her toes to kiss his cheek. "You're incorrigible."

"Especially when it comes to you." He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her a step closer. "We'll be ready to leave tomorrow night."

Her hands rested on his chest. "How will we get to the ship?"

"Merle and I have identified all of the men watching over me and he's discovered a few following him too, which is no surprise. When the sun sets tomorrow, we'll take down the ones standing guard and we'll move as rapidly as possible to the ship. Merle already has everything ready to go for when we arrive there."

"Will your father be able to follow us once he realizes we've left on Merle's ship?"

"He won't know we're gone until the following morning or hopefully even the afternoon, and by then there will be no way for him to follow us. He'll never expect us to go anywhere outside of the continent, or perhaps Asia."

She nervously bit into her bottom lip. He wiggled her hips back and forth playfully in an attempt to ease the worry lines from her face. He finally succeeded in bringing a smile to her lips and then a laugh as her eyes began to twinkle.

"Much better." He kissed her and took a step away before he could be swept up in the passion she so easily ignited within him. "My father has sent for me again."

Alarm flickered over her features but she quickly covered it up. His father had sent for him a handful of times over the past few weeks and he'd always played the role of dutiful son and gone. He resented every minute he was away from her but he would play the game for as long as it was required of him. It wouldn't be much more time until he was able to get Genny safely away from here and he'd never have to be apart from her again.

"I'll be back soon," he promised.

"Please be careful."

"Nothing will get to me," he told her with a cocky grin. "It would be best if you stayed in the house though."

"I'll just go to retrieve Camille, and then I'll come right back," she promised.

"Take Arturo with you."

"I will." She rose on her toes to kiss him again. "You're my heart."

He smiled down at her as she spoke the words they always exchanged when they parted now. He pressed her hand against his chest and held it there. "You're my soul."

***

"Going out milady?" Arturo asked as she approached the front door.

Genny stifled a groan, she had given up on trying to get him to stop calling her milady, but she still disliked it. "I am Arturo; my sister will be done watching the children soon."

"I'll come with you," he offered though Atticus had probably already told him that he had to join her.

She suspected that he felt it was better to offer to walk with her than to tell her that he was
going
to walk with her. Arturo knew how to handle women better than his squat exterior, beady brown eyes and powerful body would have let on. It amused her to see such a suave man emerge from one that looked far more capable of ripping someone's head off than romancing them.

"I'd like that," she told him, following the roles they had each established since he'd started standing guard over her.

He held the door open for her as she stepped outside. Walking side by side, they descended the steps to the dirt road. They could always take the horses into town but she found she preferred walking. She'd been spending a lot more time inside since they'd moved to the house and she missed being out in the fresh air. She had hoped to get back over to the human town to say goodbye to Matilda before leaving but she didn't think that was going to happen. Maybe tomorrow, she thought as she lifted her tunic to avoid some horse dung in the road.

"How long have you known Atticus?" she inquired.

"Since he was born. I was in his mother's employ before then, but I was assigned to Lord Atticus upon his birth."

Genny turned toward him. "His mother must have had great faith in you to let you watch over her child."

"She did milady."

Genny grew quiet as they approached the village. She could already see Camille down by the house with a group of children playing outside. A smile broke over her face when Camille looked up and waved enthusiastically. Camille had been nervous and uncertain about their course of action for the first week, but the more they prepared for it, the more relaxed about the plan she'd become. She'd even managed to make three blankets since then. Genny had succeeded in finishing her first blanket last night and though it was a little lopsided, she was extremely proud of it.

Camille said something to one of the women that Genny recognized as another worker at the orphanage. Turning away, Camille took three steps away from the woman when a distant twain reverberated through the air. Confusion filled Genny as she tried to place what had caused the noise and the strange whistling sound that accompanied it. Her head tipped back, her eyes latched onto a wave of arrows rising high into the air. The fading sunset glinted on the metal heads and turned the feathers the color of a peach as the arrows began their downward descent.

The woman that had just spoken with Camille staggered backward, her hands clawed at her chest and the arrow protruding from there. Shouts reverberated through the village, Genny's mind spun as it tried to take everything in.

The whistle of more arrows soaring into the air was nearly drowned out by the growing screams of the villagers. A glow began to light the darkening sky as the first flames shot into the air from the direction of where Felix's hut stood. The scent of smoke drifted to her, she spotted the first curling tendrils of it rising into the air. She had no idea what was going on, but she did know that they had to get out of here,
now
.

She lunged toward Camille but Arturo grabbed hold of her arm and yanked her back. "My sister!" she screamed. She clawed at his restraining hand as at least a hundred more arrows descended from the sky again.

"
You
are my concern," Arturo replied stonily. He wrapped his arm around her waist and lifted her off the ground.

Genny screamed in fury, she kicked savagely at him but even as he was spinning her around, more flames were erupting from the direction they had walked here from. They were pinned in between the flames and the arrows. Arturo dropped her on the ground, and pulling her beneath him, he bent over her while arrows rained down upon them. Screams of suffering and confusion tore through the dwindling day, she watched the feet of the vampires racing around them from under Arturo's arm. Bile surged up her throat when a child fell beside her, his eyes were open wide, his hands twitched on the ground as the life faded from his gaze.

Arturo rose over her and pulled her back to her feet. Her attention was torn away from the child by the arrows protruding from Arturo's shoulder and back, arrows that would have hit her if it hadn't been for him. She lurched forward to try and help him but he shoved her hands aside and attempted to grab hold of her again. Though she was concerned about him, her primary concern was for her sister and if he caught her again he would try to keep her away from Camille.

Spinning away from him, she shoved past the crowd of vampires trying to flee in the other direction. Bodies bounced and shoved against her as she fought her way through the crowd. The Watchmen began to bellow orders to the panicking vampires but no one seemed to be paying them any attention as they fled heedlessly away from the fires. Through the chaos of retreating vampires, the growing plumes of smoke, and the encroaching flames shooting into the air, she spotted Camille with one of the children.

"Camille!" she screamed as she heedlessly shoved another vampire out of her way.

Camille's frightened gaze met hers as the first figures began to emerge from amongst the huts and smoke that obscured the view of the forest. Bows were in most of their hands but a few were holding torches that they tossed onto the roofs of the huts as they moved. Her confusion continued to mount when she recognized some of the faces amongst the trees.

Humans
, she realized,
from the nearby village. But why were they here, why were they doing this?

She didn't have time to ponder that question though. She was almost to Camille's side when the sound of more arrows being released filled the air.

***

Atticus barely heard a word his father was saying as he prattled on about details of a wedding that was never going to take place. It took everything he had not to tap his fingers on the table but he was doing his best to play the role of compliant son. Appearing impatient or uncaring right now would
not
fit that role.

"Silas says the manor that he is giving to you for a wedding gift is nearly completed," his father said.

"That's good," he muttered as he stared at the slit of a window in the wall.

"It will be a fine manor."

"I'm sure it will." Though he didn't plan to ever see it. A smile tugged at his lips as his thoughts drifted to a life with Genny free of the rules and restrictions that they both lived under in this world, a life where they would be free to raise a family together.

"There is also the matter of the next Council meeting." An uneasy feeling began to coil through Atticus's belly. "It will be right after your wedding." He pressed his palms flat against the table and though he knew that his father continued to speak he barely heard a word the man said. "I think it would be best if you brought your new bride with you." Atticus rose from his chair and approached the window. "It would be good to allow The Council to see that you are a united front. To show them all that the two most powerful vampire families have joined and that we are not to be messed with."

His gaze searched the horizon but he saw nothing unusual amongst the surrounding landscape. Even still a growing sense of impending doom built within him. "I have to go," he said abruptly and turned away from his father.

"I am not done speaking!" his father barked. His father moved swiftly away from the table to try and intercept him but Atticus was already at the door. He threw it open and ran down the hall. "Atticus! You are not to leave here until I am through speaking with you!"

There was something about the tone of his father's booming voice that caused him to turn while in the middle of descending the stairs. His father's eyes were almost frantic as he leaned over the upper railing to look down at him. Full-blown panic hit him as realization slid through him; he hadn't been called here today because of the wedding.

Genny
. He knew instantly that he had to get to her,
now
.

Turning away from his father, his feet never touched the last twelve steps as he leapt off the stairs and hit the ground running. The power of Genny's blood, and his mother's strong bloodline, pulsed through his veins. He became as fleeting as a shadow as he raced across the manor grounds.

The faint scent of smoke drifted to him when he reached the wood line.