Tezra opened her mouth to speak, but then curbed the urge and tried to hold onto her sanity while she waited impatiently to hear her sister out. She wondered if in some insane way Katie had felt their parents’ deaths were her fault. When Katie didn’t speak, Tezra tried again. “Katie, none of what happened was your doing, honey.”
“I-I…had a fight.” Katie struggled to get the words out, as if after not speaking for so long it was difficult now, or was it the grueling emotions that caused the problem?
Trying to calm the blood rushing pel -mel through her veins, Tezra took a deep breath. “Tel me what you remember.” No way was her sister responsible for what had happened, and she wanted Katie to understand that right away.
“You…” Katie wiped away tears rol ing down her cheeks and stared at her lap. She looked up at Tezra, her eyes reflecting pain and anger. “You got to go to the SCU school early. But I-I was twelve, the same age as you when you…started. They w-wouldn’t let me go. Said I wasn’t as…” She sobbed, and the woeful sound wrenched at Tezra’s soul.
Tezra rubbed her arm. “It’s okay, Katie.”
“I wasn’t as strong or agile or quick as you. W-when he came, I let…” Katie looked at the floor and shook her head.
Sitting back against the sofa cushions, Tezra stared at her in disbelief. “You invited him in.” She’d never considered how the murderer had gotten into the house, and she’d never thought her own sister would feel responsible for their parents’ murders.
“I was sooo…mad at Mom and Dad, I-I wasn’t thinking…straight.” Katie’s face puckered up in anger, and she wouldn’t look at Tezra. “F-first rule t-taught…” She swal owed hard. “To every hunter child, never in…invite a vampire into your home.”
Daemon took a deep breath, and Atreides shifted a bit.
“Who was he?”
Katie stared at her, resentment stil burning in her eyes. “How…how would I know?”
Oh, God, Tezra had never considered Katie wouldn’t know who the murderer was. Of course, she wouldn’t know him. How could Tezra have been so deluded to think Katie would?
“Do you recal what he looked like?”
Katie shook her head.
“I have to know for certain. He can’t hurt you. You’re safe with us. Did you even look at him when you answered the door?”
“I-I was so angry,” she admitted. “He a-asked to see Dad. Mom was in the kitchen making…” She brushed away fresh tears.
Atreides handed her a box of tissue and she blotted the tears with one. “Chocolate chip cookies, your favorite dessert, b-because you had made honors a-at the school. Dad had been taking a nap. I froze when the man…pul ed out a sword and
…kil ed Mom. Dad tried to save us, but the man kil ed him too. I-I think he looked at me. I was too scared to see, then he vanished.”
“He didn’t walk away? He vanished like a vampire?”
“He…he walked away, vanished. I don’t know. I couldn’t look. Then you came home, and I-I don’t remember anything after that.”
Tezra studied her sister’s actions, the way she avoided her look, and she suspected Katie wasn’t tel ing the whole truth
“Was he tal like us?” Atreides asked, motioning to Daemon and him.
Katie shifted her gaze from them to Tezra. “About as tal as Dad,” she said to Tezra as if the others weren’t in the room.
Tezra nodded, confirming the answer to Atreides’s question.
“What color was his hair, his eyes?” Atreides asked.
Fisting her hands in her lap again, Katie scowled at him. “I
don’t
remember.” She faced Tezra. “We h-have to kil him for what he d-did. We have to.”
Tezra patted Katie’s hand, having every intention of putting Krustalus out of his misery. “I promise you, he’l pay for his crimes.”
“Why…why did you think you were the one that caused our parents’ deaths? Because you weren’t at…at home at the time and didn’t help protect Mom and Dad?”
“No.” Tezra sighed heavily, wishing for the mil ionth time she’d not threatened him with exposure. “I was on his murdering trail, trying to discover who he was.”
But a new worry consumed her. Tezra didn’t believe for one second that she’d used any vampiric ability to reach Katie.
With her heart in her throat, Tezra asked, “Katie, tel me the truth, have you been able to speak for some time?”
No one said a word at Patrico’s house as they waited for Katie to tel Tezra the truth. Had she been pretending to be wrapped in a bubble of silence for a decade, or not?
Katie didn’t respond.
“Katie…”
Tezra’s head began to pound.
“Katie, tell me, have you pretended not to be able to communicate with us all this
time?”
Fighting Tezra’s attempt at persuading her to reveal the truth, Katie clenched her teeth and closed her eyes.
“You will tell me honestly, Katie. Did you understand everything that’s gone on the last ten years? Were you able to speak
with me all this time, but refused?”
Katie swal owed convulsively as Tezra’s head began to ache, and she feared the answer. Why else would Katie resist giving up the truth?
“Katie…”
Her sister shook her head.
Tezra took a settling breath, but the relief was too short-lived.
“Only since yesterday,” Katie whispered.
Tezra’s heart felt like it was being crushed between col apsing stone wal s.
“When…when Patrico took me away from the hospital. I…I was afraid I’d never see you again. S-something inside me snapped. But then I was too afraid to speak. Afraid he’d be mad at me, and then you’d be angry with me…for…for what I’d done.”
Tezra closed her eyes to hold the tears in, the knowledge she’d had Daemon change her when there had been no need washing over her like an icy Arctic wave. She had no idea how much being vampiric would truly affect her, had no idea how to cope with al the changes psychological y and physical y, and hel , what if Daemon kil ed Krustalus before the kil er ever got to her again? She wouldn’t even need the extra defensive measures.
She’d always hoped once she proved Krustalus was the kil er, the SCU would exonerate her—even accept her. That wouldn’t happen now that she’d been turned. The cherry on top of the sundae would have been revealing Patrico was alive and wel .
Now, what did any of it matter?
She was a vampiress, and that couldn’t be changed. Worse, Katie was bound to feel responsible for this now too. And what if her sister hated her for being vampiric after what Krustalus had done to their parents?
“Why didn’t you tel me, Katie? Why?” Despair fil ed Tezra’s words. Daemon squeezed her hand. She couldn’t look at him, but stared at Katie instead, her whole world turned upside down al over again.
Katie shook her head. “I kil ed our parents. You would have hated me for what I did. I…I couldn’t live with it. You…you loved me and treated me kindly and…and even when I wanted to tel you yesterday, I couldn’t.”
Katie was an emotional wreck. It wasn’t an act.
The fact remained Tezra hadn’t needed to be changed to reach her. Her whole body trembled. She wanted to scream, to shake the earth, to kil Krustalus with her fangs, ripping him to shreds slowly, painful y, until he begged for mercy, and then she wanted to torture him some more. She could easily be a rogue, as Daemon had feared.
“It was my fault,” Tezra said quietly. “
My
fault they died,
not
yours, and for this…” She swal owed hard. Her greatest fear was not ever being accepted by her hunter kind. “For this, I wil forever be punished.”
Shakily, she stood, wanting to get away from everyone—Daemon’s concerned touch, her sister’s worried look, the rest of their shocked expressions. She wanted to bury herself in a hole and never come out.
***
Tezra retired to Patrico’s bedroom, unable to be with anyone for the moment. She wished she had some family left who could take Katie in and help her to adjust to the world now that she’d rejoined it. Tezra wished her hearing wasn’t so damned acute, wished that when Voltan whispered to Atreides down the hal , she couldn’t hear them.
“He has changed the huntress…our prince, has he not?” Voltan asked.
“Didn’t you see it coming? As soon as he issued a death threat to any who might consider turning her, he made it clear he was claiming her,” Atreides responded.
“What about the last one?”
“Don’t
even
bring Lynetta up. For decades, I had to put up with Daemon’s foul mood over the mess with the rogue huntress, and I don’t
ever
want to have deal with that again.”
Daemon had tangled with another problem huntress? Tezra col apsed on the bed and groaned. Atreides and Voltan didn’t say another word.
Wanting to get away, Tezra closed her eyes and imagined walking along the beach forever until she left this realm and entered a world where no one knew her, where she could live in isolation for the rest of her life. But no matter how much she tried to shove the concerns from her mind, she couldn’t even walk along the beach without the threat of Krustalus hanging over her head.
“Tezra’s mad at me, isn’t she?” Katie asked someone in the living room.
Tezra covered her ears, wishing you she couldn’t hear them talking about her, but it didn’t help.
“She’s very happy for you, Katie honey,” Patrico said. “She’s just very concerned about this matter with Krustalus.”
“I heard one of the vampires guarding the house talking to another, and he said Krustalus wants Tezra for his mate. Why?” Katie asked.
“He’s attracted to her, and he lost his own mate some years ago.”
“Oh.”
“Tezra,” Daemon said softly next to her, and she opened her eyes, her heart pounding. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you or intrude on your privacy, but I wanted to see if you were al right.”
She hated it when anyone felt sorry for her. The best way for her to deal with al the unwanted emotions slamming into her was to get on with the deadly business at hand. She sat up in bed. “I want to know who wrecked my place and why.”
Daemon eye’s widened. Was he surprised she was considering the case again? “Maison had some men go over it, looking for clues. They discovered Lichorus had been in your apartment. Whether she did al of the damage or she had help is not certain.”
“Lichorus. For what reason?”
“Maison assumes she was looking for your files to see if you had any evidence against Mustaphus, her current lover. But Maison also believes she took great pleasure in trashing your place.”
“Because of your interest in me.”
Daemon bowed his head in acknowledgement.
“Tel me about Lynetta, the huntress you fel in love with. Atreides mentioned you were…
upset
over her and hoped the same would not happen again with me.”
Daemon’s face grew stormy. “Atreides should learn to keep his mouth shut.”
Tezra folded her arms and waited. If Daemon had had a horrible time with another huntress, why hadn’t he told her about it?
She feared the worst. It was not that the other women he’d turned had become renegades that had upset him so, but the woman he had real y loved—a huntress—had done something awful to him.
She suspected Atreides wouldn’t tel her anything about the huntress if she questioned him. “Wel , Daemon?”
Daemon took a seat on a chair next to the mahogany dresser. “What do you wish to know?”
“What happened between the two of you?”
For starters.
Who she was, how much he loved her, why he had fal en for her—al piqued her curiosity. Was Tezra just the same as her, or total y the opposite? That’s what she wanted to know.
“Quite simply, Lynetta used me to entice a hunter so that he would come to her rescue. She told him I’d tried to turn her against her wil . Of course, I wanted her to agree to being turned, and she teased and cajoled me into believing she wanted the same.
Until the hunter nearly kil ed me over it. But somehow he learned the deception of her ways, and he later apologized for his attack on me.”
“I don’t understand how he could have gotten the upper hand.”
“I wouldn’t kil him, Tezra. I knew he was being manipulated, but I couldn’t terminate him or the SCU would have labeled me a rogue. Lynetta would have made certain they knew I’d targeted a hunter.”
“I’m so sorry.” Tezra shook loose of her own morbid thoughts, rose from the bed and joined him. She leaned over and kissed his cheek. “What happened?”
He pul ed her into his lap and held her tight. She loved his tenderness. “The most unbelievable scenario you could imagine.
Despite the fact she nearly had me kil ed due to her lies to the hunter, he married her apparently because he was much impressed that she’d go to such lengths to catch his interest.”
“I hope they both hated each other soon after,” Tezra said, her voice angered.
Daemon kissed the top of her head with tenderness. “They stayed together until the end of their years. Whether they were happy, I never wished to know. Al I knew was the huntress was not the one for me, and I nearly lost my life for wanting her. I believe I might have been angry about it for a while.”
“Several decades?” Tezra wondered if he final y let the hurt go when the woman died.
Daemon’s mouth curved up some.
“And here I thought I held long-term grudges.”
“You were resting with your eyes closed when I disturbed you.” Daemon kissed her ear, making her whole body tingle with expectation. “Did you want to return to bed?”
She raised her brows and that was al she needed to encourage him. The next thing she knew, he’d moved her to the mattress.
“When do I get that vampiric speed of yours?”
He chuckled and quickly dispensed with her clothes and his, then joined her in bed, but resting wasn’t what he had in mind.
***
Later that afternoon, Katie took a nap in one of the guest rooms, and Daemon had Maison bring Chief O’Mal ey to Patrico’s home so Tezra could have some resolution in the earlier murders. She’d lightened up some when he’d talked to her about his former huntress lover. And she’d seemed to enjoy their lovemaking. But as soon as they were done, she’d wrapped herself in that damnable cocoon. He felt her pul ing away from him, not physical y, but emotional y. It was too much like the way his mates had reacted after being changed—first severely depressed and inconsolable, then vicious and uncontrol able.