Dark Days (The Childe Series, #2) (56 page)
“I am afraid you are dead-on Ivan. I wondered where it had gotten to,” Lucien said, pointing at the journal. “I thought I had misplaced it, but how it came into your possession is beyond me.” Lucien’s head fell forward and he covered his face with his hands. Cat was the first to respond. She stood and walked to the obviously distraught man and put her hand on his shoulder.
“This belongs to you? So you know who wrote it?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper. Lucien nodded.
“It was my daughter’s,” he choked out.
“Your daughter’s? Hannah wrote this? But she couldn’t have, she’s as old as I am. This was written more than over a hundred years ago.” Cat’s forehead creased deeply as she tried to wrap her mind around the situation.
“No, no my dear. My first daughter wrote it. Her name was also Hannah, and that was her journal. May I hold it?” Lucien’s voice shook slightly. Cat took the book and placed it in his outstretched hands. He raised his head and Cat’s heart sank as she saw the despair and sadness in his eyes. Tears made their way down his handsome face, and without thinking, she bent down to his ear.
“It might help if you talk about it.” Her gentle voice seemed to calm his trembling and he wiped at his tears, giving her a slight smile.
“Thank you, Catherine. It is just that it has been buried so long, and the pain of it has sometimes been too much for me to bear.” Lucien cleared his throat, his hands tightly clutching the journal as if it might disappear again. “A long time ago I fell in love with a mortal, as did many of our kind. Our leader, Cain, was immensely displeased by the actions of his brethren. Even more so after offspring were miraculously produced from these unions. Cain sought the advice of a seer to find an answer for how this was possible. The seer told him of a prophecy that your kind, Cat, would bring ruin upon us,” he explained. Cat’s eyes narrowed, staring intently at Lucien. Just as Cat was about to speak, “Wait, before you judge me harshly because of what you read in the journal, let me tell you my side of the story. I, along with Ivan, and your real father,” Lucien said pointing to Cat, “were all prominent figures within the Parliament, the governing body of the vampire world. We were in charge of implementing our leader’s orders. Though we didn’t agree with the prophecy, and felt there were inconsistencies, we could never disobey the words of our leader. And thus
the Cleansing
began. Even though my daughter was a Childe, I loved her unconditionally. Your father, Ivan, and myself all devised a plan to save her life and the lives of many others, but it failed. We tried to trick our leader, and I ended up paying the ultimate price.” Lucien’s mind became haunted with visions of the past.
“I loathed the Parliament and Cain for what they made me do, but they did show me mercy and allowed my leave. So I decided to move my coven here to Astoria. I have lived with the guilt ever since.” Lucien looked at Cat and Ryan who both sat stunned by his story. Ivan moved and put his hand on Lucien’s shoulder. He looked up and attempted a smile. “If it hadn’t been for my good friends, I don’t know if I would still be here today.”
“It’s true, every single word of it,” Ivan said.
“Mr. Bancroft, I’m so sorry for your loss, but it wasn’t your fault, it was your leader who ordered this!” Cat blurted out, startling herself by doing so.
“So kind of you to say. Unfortunately, my heart doesn’t seem to agree.” Lucien paused, and then stared directly into Cat’s eyes. “Catherine Colvin, I pledge that I will do everything in my power to keep you safe.”
“Why would you do that? You don’t even know me,” Cat replied.
“I must right the wrongs of my previous life and protect you as I failed to do with my dear Hannah and your father.”
Cat sat silent for a moment, overcome with emotion, before she spoke again. “Do you think Cain is this master the girls told me about?” Cat asked.
“No, these actions here do not reflect Cain’s style. I feel someone else is responsible for this. We shall have another meeting between our groups to discuss our strategy since we have a better understanding of what we are dealing with here.”
“I guess I better tell my family before you do, Mr. Bancroft. I’m afraid they don’t know about my little adventure last night,” Cat stated. She felt Ryan’s warmth as he moved closer to her.
“Yes, I think that would be wise, young lady. Knowing all about your family now, you must realize they have powers too,” Lucien said kindly.
“I swear, did everyone know about them? I mean, was I the last to know? Like I’d freak out or something? Give me a break, I’m Robert Craven’s biggest fan after all,” Cat rambled on missing the exchange of looks between Lucien, Ivan, and Christine at the mention of that name.
“Well, I believe this meeting should be adjourned for now. I will get in touch with Aldon. But first I will give you some time to speak with your parents, Catherine,” Lucien stated.
“Thank you, Mr. Bancroft,” she said, returning his smile.
“And if it is alright with you,” Lucien said, looking to the Beckfords, “I believe Ryan should stay close to Cat until we get this settled.”
“I think his mother and I would be in total agreement with that.” Ivan looked to his wife who nodded her head.
“Catherine, thank you once again for your kind words,” Lucien said, holding the journal out to her. Cat shook her head, keeping her hands at her side.
“It belongs to you,” she said quietly.
Cat’s talk with her parents went smoother than expected, especially with all the secrets she had been keeping. Instead of tears, Rachel shocked everyone by becoming a wild woman, swearing she would tear this “master” limb from limb when she got her hands on him. Sam tried to calm her but failed. He then tried to convince Ryan that Cat would be fine until the morning and that he could pick her up for school, to which Ryan grudgingly agreed.
Later that evening, the Colvin household was rudely awakened by a loud deafening bang that came from the front door. Sam, Cat, and Rachel were stunned to see Taylor lying in the foyer on his back, breathing heavily.
“Son, what in the world is the matter? Are you drunk?” Sam asked in a stern voice.
“No, but you aren’t going to believe what I just saw!” Taylor looked up at the three who were staring at him intently.
“Well, why don’t you enlighten us?” Rachel said, sniffing the air to see if she smelled alcohol.
“Mom, stop, I’m not drunk. I just ran into those missing girls! They came out of nowhere and tried to bite me! They’re vampires!” Taylor yelled, looking back at the open front door. “As I ran into the house, they were blown back when they tried to follow me! It was like they hit a force field or something!”
“I guess Miss Amaya’s sealing spell worked,” Cat commented.
“Sorry, Mom, I think I gave them the finger, but you’ve got to let me go on that one. First, I was happy I wasn’t vampire bait, and second, I did own up to it, right?” Taylor rambled, but then stopped as he realized they weren’t surprised by what happened. “Hey, wait! What sealing spell? What have you been keeping from me?” Taylor asked, looking bewildered.
“Come on, big bro, let’s go into Dad’s study. We need to have a little chat with you. I don’t think you’re going to like what we have to say,” Cat said, leaning down and helping him rise to his feet.
He’s going to be so pissed when he finds out those girls were behind Trish’s attack
.
As Cat and Ryan drove home from school the next day, she filled him in on Taylor’s attack. “I thought Taylor was going to have to be restrained after we told him everything. He went totally berserk, I could swear he was growling.”
“Well, he is a Varulv after all,” Ryan joked.
“You know what I mean,” Cat replied, giving him a love tap.
“So, I guess the big meeting is tonight,” Ryan said, glancing over to her.
“I just hope something comes of it. I’m kind of tired of this whole “let’s protect Cat” game,” she laughed, but it sounded hollow. “You know, I’m really worried about Linda, even after all that’s happened.”
“I know. It must be hard to have your best friend become an enemy like this.”
“That’s just it, though, I don’t think she’s like the other two. I know there’s still good in her, I can feel it,” Cat replied quietly, looking down at her twiddling thumbs. She sighed and Ryan reached his head over to smack a kiss on her cheek while they waited at a red light.
“Things will work out. The grown-ups will handle it, and this will all just have been a bad dream.” Cat stared out the window and watched as fat raindrops fell from the sky, hoping he was right.