Darkest Risings (17 page)

She
went to use the bathroom, and while washing her hands, she looked into the
mirror at her neck. She was surprised when she didn’t see the mother of all
hickeys there, but instead saw two red spots that kind of resembled a spider bite.

“Yeah,
a six-foot-seven spider named Aldin,” she muttered.

Had
he bitten her? She shrugged. It hadn’t been unpleasant, and she wouldn’t mind
if he did it again. She groaned when she glanced at the clock. It would be dawn
soon. She stretched and got into bed hoping to get at least a couple hours of
sleep before breakfast.

She
started to doze, and smiled when an image of sexy turquoise eyes danced behind
her closed lids.

Wilhemina
jerked awake, and groaned when she looked at the clock. It had only been a half
hour since she’d fallen asleep. Her occasional bouts of insomnia had started
after she’d gotten that dreaded call while at college. She hadn’t had an
episode for several months, and she hoped this would not be the start of one. Her
mother and father had died when she was young and she and her sister had gone
to live with their grandparents. They’d had a happy childhood, as happy as one
could have without parents, and she and Lindsey had grown close.

Not
only had Lindsey been her sister, but she’d been her best friend. They had been
inseparable throughout their childhood and school. Wilhemina, being two years
older than Lindsey, left for college first with plans of Lindsey coming to
visit on summer break. Her departure had been hard on them both. They had
survived and learned to keep in touch over the phone and Internet when they
couldn’t see one another in person.

They’d
lost their grandfather shortly after Wilhemina had gone to college and Lindsey
had grown hesitant about leaving their grandmother alone after she graduated.
With a lot of assuring and convincing, Grandma Lou had managed to reassure
Lindsey and Wilhemina that she would get along fine without them. The fall
after graduation, Lindsey packed and left to meet Wilhemina to enroll for her
first year at the same college. Wilhemina lived in the dorm on campus, and had
gone a week early to get the room set up for the two as they’d planned to be
roommates.

Lindsey
had never arrived. Wilhemina remembered the events of that day as clearly as if
they happened yesterday. She’d been excited about seeing her sister, was eager
to share in Lindsey’s college experience and being close to her once again.
She’d waited and waited and waited for Lindsey’s arrival. She’d called her
sister over and over, but Lindsey had never answered her cell.

Finally,
her grandmother had called late that afternoon to tell her that Lindsey’s car
had been found on the side of the highway, and that Lindsey was nowhere to be
found. Wilhemina hadn’t been too worried at first, figured the car had broken
down, and Lindsey would show up at a rest stop calling on a payphone with a
story about how she’d lost her car charger and her cell phone had died.

But
as the days went by, it had become evident that Lindsey was not coming home.
Wilhemina had put her education on hold, had sunk every last miniscule resource
she had into searching for Lindsey, but there had been few leads and less tips.
The police promised to never give up on the case, but Wilhemina hadn’t missed
the way Detective Walter wouldn’t quite make eye contact with her during their
last meeting.

She
knew Lindsey would ultimately end up in a pile of unsolved cases buried in a
room where no one would notice her ever again. It had been heartbreaking and
had proved too much on her grandmother’s failing health. One year after
Lindsey’s disappearance, she’d lost Grandma Lou as well. Since that day a
little over seven years ago, Wilhemina had been on her own.

She’d
never given up hope of finding Lindsey, but she had nowhere left to turn. She’d
followed every lead, every tip, and every one of them had come up empty. It was
as if her sister had disappeared from the face of the earth without a trace.

She
rubbed at her eyes and kicked the covers off. Sleep would not come now. She
needed coffee. She hoped Ebony hadn’t been exaggerating when she said McKayla,
the housekeeper, kept hot coffee available in the kitchen at all times.

She
took a quick cool shower hoping it would clear the fog from her sleep deprived
mind, dried off, and dressed in a soft pair of her favorite broken-in jeans, a
white fuzzy sweater, and flip-flops. After brushing her teeth, she pulled her
hair back into a ponytail and made her way downstairs.

She
was halfway to the kitchen when she heard voices from down the hall. She
frowned. Good God, she was now convinced that none of the Aleksandrovs slept.
She couldn’t stop herself from tiptoeing toward the cracked door of the study.
She tilted her head to the side and listened, not wanting to go any closer for
fear of being caught. At least if she got caught here, she could still say she
was just on her way to the kitchen. However, if she had her ear pressed to the
door, she doubted that excuse would fly.

“How
could you do this to our brother?”

Wilhemina
jumped when she heard Aldin’s angry voice.

“I
cannot begin to express the guilt I feel for locking your brother away, for not
telling all of you that you had a brother, for not telling you about your
father. But whether any of you choose to believe me or not, I did it with the
best of intentions. My actions were harsh, bordering on insane maybe, but I did
it to protect all of you because I cannot bear the thought of losing any of
you. And after Estril…”

Marilena’s
voice was strong, but the pain in each of her words was evident to Wilhemina’s
ears.

“That’s
a fucking understatement. She could put Joan Crawford to shame with her mommy
dearest bullshit.”

Wilhemina
frowned when she didn’t recognize the male voice.

“I
will only say this once, and it would do well for all of you to listen
carefully. I am your father whether you like it or not. That fact cannot be
changed. I have made mistakes. Your mother has made mistakes. You are all
allowed to deal with it how you must, but I will not tolerate any outright
disrespect toward your mother.”

Another
man’s voice that Wilhemina did not recognize.

“It’s
all right, Ragnor.”

“It
is not. If any of you disrespect Marilena, you will deal with me. And although
I may have a few gray hairs, I warn you that you will not like the consequences
if you do not heed me on this. Marilena made horrible choices, choices that
affected everyone’s life in this room, including mine. But I know that she made
them to try to protect her family.”

“Are
you saying you agree with what she did?” Ashe asked.

“No.
I do not agree with what she has done. I’m saying that I know she did not do
anything with malicious intent, and I will stand by her no matter how angry or
upset I might be at her actions. She has chosen to come clean, to try to make
amends for her mistakes.”

Wilhemina
barely heard the voice she now knew to be Ragnor’s. It was low, but as soft as
it was, it had the ability to give her chills. Whoever this Ragnor was, she got
the distinct impression that he was not one to cross.

“No
need to worry about me, Daddy-o. I plan to have as little contact as possible
from now on with Mother.”

Crack. Crack. Crackity crack.

A
gasp came from inside the room, and Wilhemina practically felt the pain in the
response. She guessed it had come from Marilena.

“Stop
the damned knuckle cracking, and don’t be a smart ass, Uriah. You have every
right to be angry, and I will never attempt to deprive you of your emotions,
but I will
get involved
if you
continue with your hurtful remarks. They are unnecessary. Everyone here has
strong feelings that need to be dealt with, but hurting each other in the
process is unnecessary.”

Ragnor’s
voice was once again calm and low, but held that commanding tone that seemed as
natural as the sun. She shivered. Probably not unlike the sun either. Warm and
inviting one minute, scathing and raising blisters the next.

“Why
don’t we discuss the issue at hand that needs most taken care of? After that, I
would like to get to know my brother.” Ashe sounded tired, and by the grunts
she heard in response, the others agreed.

“As
you know, once you all find your life mates, I will be able to perform the
virtus ritus
so you all will go through
the
Adveho en vox
. After that, you
will possess the power to stop the uprising.”

“The
information we’ve gotten from the drifters indicates that Trinidad is a true
blood and as powerful as you,” Aiston said.

“There
are no other true bloods left. Only myself. While I do not know who Trinidad
is, I am certain he is no true blood. It is simply not possible. However, I
cannot dismiss the possibility that he is something that I am not aware exists.
The prophecy shows the uprising to be led by one who cannot be defeated by a
normal vampyre.”

Vampire?
True blood?
Virtus ritus
? Latin and
monsters. What the hell were they talking about? Wilhemina leaned as close to
the room as she dared, still feeling guilty about eavesdropping, but unable to
help herself at this point.

“There
is no need to worry then. The prophecy will never come about because I will
never find my life mate,” Aldin stated.

“You’ve
already found her, and don’t look at me with that brooding, surprised stare.
You know it’s the truth. And to put it bluntly, Uriah’s
viata amant
is close by as well. Isn’t she, Marilena?”

The
room got deathly quiet, and Wilhemina was sure if a pin dropped at that precise
moment, it would sound like an explosion.

“But
that is a discussion for later.” Ragnor again.

“I
assure you, Aldin, if you and Uriah do not accept what Fate brings you, all of
you will be slaughtered. There will be no hope for any of you to survive. The
prophecy has been clear on that one point from the start. You must come into
your true blood powers in order to defeat the leader of the uprising.”

Again,
what the hell? Were these people crazy? Were they rehearsing some kind of
mystery dinner theater crap? Wilhemina couldn’t begin to comprehend what they
were talking about.

“For
now, I think that is enough. You should spend some time with Uriah and get to
know one another. You are all brothers. Marilena, let’s leave our boys alone
for the time being, shall we?”

Wilhemina
started to tiptoe quickly toward the kitchen, but managed to catch Ragnor’s
next sentence before she got out of sight and earshot.

“Aldin,
Ashe, I assume your injuries have healed? Dominic, who I ran into earlier in
the hallway, informed me that you nearly bled out from your injuries and both
required a source to heal. Please do be careful. The humans and our kind are
depending upon you to come out the victors in this uprising. I don’t need to
tell you what will happen to them if you don’t.”

Wilhemina
barely got around the corner and into the other room before Ragnor and Marilena
exited the room. She froze, not daring to move a muscle.

“How
did you know? I told no one,” Marilena whispered.

“About
the girl? You’ve always had way too much confidence in my powers where doing
the impossible is required and too little where they are strongest. My love,
there is nothing you can hide from me. Don’t you understand that by now?”

“Uriah
will never forgive me. Hell, once Aldin finds out, he will most likely never
forgive me.”

“I
don’t think Uriah has any intention of forgiving you anytime in the near future
anyway. And as far as Aldin is concerned? I think if you are able to make
amends with one particular woman in his life, you will have a good chance of
earning his forgiveness. You fail to convince her of your good intentions and
you may very well be right in your assumption about losing him.”

“How
did this happen?” Marilena cried.

“It
happened because of bad choices. Now, we must go somewhere else to finish this
discussion. Our conversation is not private.”

Could
Ragnor know she was listening?
Not
freaking likely unless he’s got superhero hearing.
Wilhemina’s heart
pounded in her chest as she listened to their retreating footsteps. She waited
a few moments before finally continuing on to the kitchen.

She
was thankful to find a full pot of fresh coffee on the countertop. After
finding an empty cup hanging on a hook under the cabinet, she filled it nearly
to the rim then added sugar. After taking a sip, she sighed. It was some of the
best coffee she’d ever drunk.
Of course
it is. Everything in this mansion is the best of the best.

She
looked around the kitchen, astonished that she was at all surprised by the
luxuriousness of the room after seeing most of the rest of the mansion.
Everything was high end from the stainless steel appliances to the pots and
pans to the granite countertops. Even the coffee pot was something anyone would
brag about. She wasn’t jealous—perhaps a bit envious—but not full out jealous.
It wasn’t that she’d been one to wish for a life of indulgence, but to have the
type of money the Aleksandrovs obviously had would allow her to search for
Lindsey without worry about funds.