“Sorry, they aren’t here. I gave them to Colby, though I don’t know what good they’ll do her. Or you for that matter.”
Ileana didn’t believe in the Prophesy. Her father had worshipped vampires, had longed to become one. He served them and did their bidding, and the only thing he got for his devotion was brutally murdered and a half-blood daughter. Ileana had no deep affection for full-bloods or her father, for that matter.
“Why you two persist in researching this Prophesy nonsense is beyond me. I told you I don’t believe in the silly thing and yet you two act like the world is coming to an end or something.”
“What if it is?” I countered. What made her so sure she was right about the Prophecy being bogus anyway?
“Dear Piper, the world has been around a long time before we came upon it and I daresay it will still be here for a fair amount of time after we leave.”
“I don’t mean the
literal
world, Ileana, I’m talking about vampires and humans. Our
existence
in this world.”
Sophie paused in her brushing and looked at her mistress in question. “Do you really think that Colby is capable of bringing the end of existence as we know it?”
Ileana tried to trivialize my question. “She can’t even match her shoes to her outfit. Why, today she had on ballet flats with her jeans! Truly, I don’t know how she manages to get to school in one piece sometimes.”
Sophie went back to brushing her hair. I looked at Ileana and she smiled back blankly, but her eyes darted toward her maid momentarily. I nodded and changed the subject to something less distressful … something Sophie would enjoy.
“So Sophie, smuggle any cats in lately?”
“No, just the one, miss. Colby made me take it back to that crazy lady. She has so many cats, she can’t possible take care of all of them. And this one was just a little thing, it wouldn’t possible be missed.” She switched to brushing another section. “Don’t know why we can’t keep just a wee little one around.”
Of course, I knew why Colby didn’t allow cats in the house. She was deathly allergic to them, even in her Undead state. Which hardly seemed fair, but who said being Undead was fair?
“Cheer up,” I told her. “Maybe she’ll let you get a dog or something.”
“Do you really think so?” Sophie brightened at the thought of getting something as large as a dog and smiled while she completed her task.
“All right, mum, I’ve finished with your hair now. Piper, I need to put Miss Ileana to bed.” She sounded like an old-fashioned nursery nanny instead of a young maid of twenty-something but I took the hint.
“Colby?” Ileana called to me as I reached the door. “Let’s catch up when I awaken, just you and I. Maybe we could go for tea at that lovely new teahouse by PSU?”
I tried to hide my surprise. Ileana had never asked to do anything with me, ever. In general, she tended to keep her distance with everyone. I thought it had something to do with all those years of protecting herself. Colby just thought she was a snob.
“Sounds great.”
“Excellent, I have Sophie running some errands for me tomorrow and I don’t want to go without my afternoon teatime.”
Somehow Ileana had a way of turning a nice invitation into an obligation to serve her, but I ignored it because I knew she would speak frankly about the Prophesy without Sophie in the room. Sophie might be a maid, but Ileana was very protective of her and wouldn’t allow anyone to say things that upset her. Things like how their existence was coming to an end. I imagine it sort of put a damper on their daily routine.
Seven
COLBY
I
have a soul. Full, intact, complete. My essence is the exact same as it was when I was alive. Which would probably explain why feeding was still as tough for me now as it was the first time I tried it. I knew it was necessary to survive but that didn’t make it any easier to walk up to a virtual stranger and take a pint of O negative.
Full-bloods, on the other hand, were missing a piece of their soul. It was probably an evolutionary necessity. Aunt Chloe told me once that during World War II soldiers used the worst kind of epithets for the enemy. The way they talked around the camps and such, you would think the enemy armies were demons. It was a means to dehumanize the people you were ordered to kill.
I don’t think I really understood that until I became a vampire. How do you take an eighteen-year-old soldier who’s been raised in a moral household where he was taught right from wrong and then expect him to put all that aside and kill another person?
I wasn’t raised to drink other people’s blood. But I have to do it or I die. And it’s hard. Really hard. If I didn’t have the support of others like me, I don’t think I could keep doing it. I think eventually it would warp me. So full-bloods had to change. To evolve. To lose a bit of their humanity in order to survive.
I knew Thomas was not the same man he was when he was living. He’s still a good man. He’s just harder somehow, less sentimental, with more of an edge. He was missing a piece of his soul, his essence. To hunt your former peers, you must change. And he did.
I doubted Barnaby would come after me directly, but he needed me so he could play on the fears the Prophesy exacerbated. It was logical to assume he would come after someone close to me. That left two likely candidates. Thomas and Piper. And Piper had a complete soul. I wasn’t totally ruling her out because Barnaby had unleashed his possessed playthings on us in the parking garage. At the time I thought they were only after me, but what if they weren’t? After all, I didn’t get staked and they’d tried to block the exits so Piper couldn’t escape. If they only wanted me, who cared about a human girl getting away?
But if they killed Piper and possessed her body, they could try to influence me through her. But was she the logical first choice or were they getting desperate? Did they think they were running out of time? Maybe possessing Piper was Plan B. If so, what was Plan A?
I thought of Thomas. He wasn’t sleeping at night, he was edgy and doing things I wouldn’t categorize as rational. Sending Carl away to New York City was one such decision. Why send away his best friend when he knew we needed him here? Thomas was isolating himself. Not a good sign.
I returned to Psi Phi House and went directly up to my room. Would Thomas be there? Slowly, I opened the door so I wouldn’t disturb him if he were sleeping. I was surprised to find him watching television, propped up on my bed.
“Hey,” I said carefully. We were fighting the last time we spoke.
“Hey.” He smiled his sleepy, sexy half-smile and my heart melted. He looked rested, like he’d finally gotten a decent rest.
“You look better.” I shut the door behind me and joined him on the bed.
He reached out and drew me near, fitting our bodies together nicely. I sighed in contentment.
“I feel better. I haven’t been able to sleep much lately—all these crazy dreams—but for some reason, I lay down here and was out. A good three hours of deep sleep. I feel like a new man.”
“Did you get something to eat?” I asked, craning my neck back to look at his face. The dark circles seemed lighter, his muscles were less tense. Maybe he wasn’t in danger of being possessed by a demon. Maybe he was just tired from all the extra work lately.
“I had a bag of A positive and it helped.”
I wrinkled my nose up at him. “You can’t be serious.”
“It’s really not that bad. It was pretty fresh, from this afternoon, so it still had some kick; but in general, I think I prefer it straight from the source.”
“I don’t know what Aunt Chloe was thinking. I mean, I get that we are a bit suspicious and all. There are twelve of us now and we have to feed daily. Sometimes we’re lazy, we don’t like to leave the area to feed and the bloodmobile van is kind of an ingenious way to keep the girls from eating out and risking exposure but still …”
“Ballsy,” Thomas agreed.
“Yeah. Half-bloods just aren’t as picky as you full-bloods. Guess we’re not blood connoisseurs,” I teased him.
He laughed at me. “Yeah, that’s it.” We looked into each other’s eyes and I knew there was nothing I wouldn’t do for this man. I was in love. Big-time.
He picked up my hand and laced his fingers through mine. “Look, about earlier …”
“Forget it. I’m sorry,” I interrupted him, enjoying the feel of his hand in mine.
“Things have been hectic lately and I haven’t really been able to spend enough quality time with you. I’d never want you to think that I only wanted you for one thing.”
He was referring to my blood of course, which made me laugh because prior to Thomas, guys used to be interested in a different thing.
I nuzzled his neck and kissed his ear. “Yeah, but my blood is pretty high-quality stuff.”
He turned to look at me, moving his hand to hold my chin and keep me still.
“I love you, Colby.”
It wasn’t the first time he’d said it but it was the first time he was so focused about it. I wondered at his intensity. Dropping a quick kiss on the hand beneath my chin I replied, “Damn straight.”
He smiled and that dimple that drove me crazy appeared and before I knew it, we were in a pretty passionate embrace. When he was done showing me exactly how much he loved me, we curled up together and Thomas fell asleep. Big shocker, right?
Admittedly, I was feeling pretty drowsy as well, but my mind refused to slow down. It kept racing with thoughts of the Prophesy, what I’d learned about demons and my concerns for Thomas.
“I’m always amazed how much he feels for you,” I heard a voice say next to me.
I looked at Thomas and was surprised to find him awake. Except, it wasn’t my Thomas. His eyes were aglow with red and rimmed with black. As if lined with eyeliner, as per Johnny Depp in
Pirates
. His voice was different as well. It sounded synthesized. This could only be Barnaby.
I pulled away, but he held me quick. I had, after all, fallen asleep wrapped in Thomas’s arms.
“Oh no, don’t go. I want to smell you.” He took a deep sniff and I had to say, “Eww.”
I still struggled but it was pointless. Thomas was strong but possessed by Barnaby, it was like being held by steel bands.
“You’re not real. You’ll never take over Thomas completely. You might manage it in his sleep, but he’ll fight you.”
I felt pretty stupid making that prediction because I was struggling and fighting him as well and I was hardly winning.
He laughed harshly and squeezed tighter. “I’m giving you the world and still you fight me. We’ll rule together. You’re so ungrateful.”
He squeezed tighter until I cried out. My ribs cracked.
“Please,” I begged and he immediately slackened his hold.
“You see, I’m not unreasonable, my pet. It’s almost time to fulfill the Prophesy and you can take your rightful place as my queen. Imagine how the full-bloods will fear you.” Then he nuzzled my cheek, sniffing again. Then he surprised me by licking my neck.
“I will have you,” he promised, then savagely bit me. I gasped in pain and struggled, but he held me tighter and tighter. I couldn’t move. My body was being smothered by his.
Suddenly the weight lifted. I sprang up in bed and a strangled cry escaped me in the dark room. I grabbed at my neck. It felt fine. No marks, no wetness from blood. I looked at Thomas next to me. He was quiet, sleeping peacefully. His face was relaxed and his hair brushed across his forehead in disarray. He looked so peaceful.
I tentatively reached out and touched him, relieved it was only a bad dream. He mumbled something and rolled over. My eyes went to the spot on the pillow his face occupied moments before. I stared at it for a long time, slowly inching away from Thomas to reach for my clothes. I couldn’t stop looking there.
I touched my neck again and blinked away tears. His pillow was stained with blood and when I slipped out of bed, my ribs ached.
Eight
PIPER
T
ea at ten P.M. masquerading as afternoon tea was something only the British and the crazy do. Ileana Romanav was both.
We settled down with our Earl Grey and lemon (Ileana ordered for both of us) in front of the fireplace to chat.
“I want you to know I still don’t take much stock in the Prophesy.” She sipped her tea delicately. “However, I know many Undead do and for that matter, it should not be taken lightly.”
This was in direct conflict with her original position.
“You play it down to make Sophie feel better. That’s a pretty decent thing to do.”
“I play it down because it should be played down. And we don’t need everyone in the House speculating and gossiping about something they can’t change.”
I looked around the teahouse and noted a few students, and possibly one professor. “What did your father believe?”
She sighed wearily. “He believed the Prophesy was true. He believed there was more to it than the obvious. However, he didn’t believe it meant the end of vampire existence, but a unique opportunity for vampire evolution.” She took another sip of her tea then added, “He thought vampires were noble, misunderstood creatures who should be idolized and worshipped.”