“I won’t fail.”
“You should hope not,” Zardok said. “Because if she and hers don’t kill you, we will.”
“I said I can take care of it,” Jordan growled. “She’s just my sister. I am still far more powerful than she is.”
“So be it,” Zardok said. “Take care of it. Even if it means killing her.”
“Of course,” Jordan said with a slight bow to the Ancients.
He had no problem making the promise—he secretly clutched to the hope that his sister could still be useful to him, but if not, and if she was any threat to his future, he would kill her. How, he wasn’t sure. After all, his main intent with the potion was immortality. He just hoped that part hadn’t taken effect in her yet.
First, he had to find her. Which became more difficult than he expected.
Chapter 17
Cassandra sat on a dead log with her elbows on her knees and her head in her hands. She peeked to her side to ensure Andronika still slept, even with everyone’s voices growing louder. She now had six others in the little group Father had told her to create—Niko, two other vampyres, two werewolves and a witch who had just joined them about a month ago. Definitely not an army. Even if she converted a hundred more, she wanted to avoid fighting the Daemoni at all costs. She couldn’t put her growing family—she loved them nearly as much as she loved her daughter—at risk. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what they wanted to do.
“We’ve been running from your brother for nearly two seasons,” Niko said. “We have more numbers now and we’re all trained warriors. We can fight them, Cassandra.”
“I don’t
want
to fight them,” she said for the fifth time tonight.
He’d been making this same plea to her for a while now. Being on the run was, admittedly, tiresome. All she really wanted to do was vanish onto one of those little islands in the sea, where Jordan could never find them. But they told her they could never truly disappear from him. He’d always find them. At least, until they had a warlock or more mages on their side to produce a strong enough shield, whatever that was.
“This cat-and-mouse game has to end sometime,” said Michael, a red-headed vampyre. “We should end it
our
way. We should go on the offensive.”
The others murmured in agreement. She knew he was probably right. She wasn’t trained for battle, except for what they’d been teaching her, but they were. They would know how to plan and execute an attack on Jordan. If they went on the offensive, they could better control the situation and she might still have a chance to end this peaceably, but if Jordan found them first, her chances for that would diminish drastically.
“Jordan only ever has two others with him. We can easily take him down,” Niko said.
“He only ever has two
with
him, but he can summon hundreds if he needs to,” said Inga, their most recent addition.
And that’s exactly what frightened Cassandra and why they kept at this same argument. She refused to take the chance of losing lives to Jordan and his minions.
“What if we devise a plan that prevents him from summoning any others?” Michael asked. “We could ambush him and he’d never have a chance.”
This piqued Cassandra’s curiosity. She finally raised her head and peered at the vampyre. “Do you have a plan that would work? One with no bloodshed?”
Michael squirmed. She didn’t know if it was her requirement or just that she’d said “blood.” The vampyres seemed to have adapted to their new diet of only animal blood—their solution to prevent them from harming humans—but they didn’t particularly like it. They said the difference was like stale bread and water compared to fresh beef and wine, in human terms.
The werewolves didn’t complain as much. Their diets had always consisted primarily of animal meat, except at the full moon. Their hardest struggle came then, when the call of the wild overcame their humanity. The vampyres had to restrain them all night long as they whined, growled and snapped, trying to free themselves to hunt down a human. For those three days of every moon cycle, Cassandra had to take Andronika far away and keep her hidden. Niko said the Weres had been easier to control last month. They all hoped they would eventually lose that wildness as their commitment to Cassandra and this life deepened.
“Well?” she asked Michael.
“Cassandra, my love,” Niko said, answering for his vampyre-brother, “we can’t guarantee that.”
She stood. “Then this conversation is over. Again. I will not risk any of your lives. We are not large enough or strong enough yet.”
She turned and headed to Andronika’s side to join her in slumber, ignoring the rumbles of the others. She just didn’t understand how they could be so anxious to go into battle.
“
Cassandra,
” Niko’s voice yelled in her mind. It was the only way he could grab her attention. She didn’t particularly enjoy the ability to hear their thoughts, feeling it an invasion of their privacy, so she kept her mind closed to them. They had to yell her name for her to hear, just as Niko did again. She froze. “
You said your father called this an army. He said you would have to lead this army and fight. Battle means bloodshed. You must realize that.
”
This is not an army. This is a small group of battered people. We cannot take on Jordan and all of his troops! I won’t risk it. Not yet.
“
If we come up with a foolproof ambush? You know we have to end this. Let’s do it our way.
”
She didn’t think it possible. Jordan was too cunning to fool for long. She’d been amazed they’d been able to stay out of his reach thus far. Which was why they
did
need a better plan, one that required confronting him and possibly ending his relentless chase once and for all.
She sighed.
You know what I want, Niko. You come up with a way that keeps any of us from getting hurt and allows me to talk to Jordan and I will consider it.
She possessed what Niko called the “power of persuasion”—another gift from the Angels—and had developed it by converting the others. If she could use it to persuade her brother that she’d been right all along and he could still be good if he wanted to be, then she could bring him to her side and help him save his soul. She just needed to accomplish this without losing lives.
Chapter 18
Jordan sniffed the air. His nostrils flared. A smile danced on his lips. He looked at Blasius, his massive companion, and the vampyre narrowed his dark eyes and nodded. Silently, the two made their way toward the scents. Jordan found it nearly impossible to control the excitement surging through his body. After months of searching and chasing, only to come up empty-handed at the last second, they finally had the group trapped in a narrow crevice at the base of a mountain. Why had they stopped there of all places, such an easy place to be ensnared? He understood when he heard their conversation and his mouth stretched into a teeth-baring grin. He motioned to Blasius to stop.
“We’ve had enough, Niko,” a man shouted. “This is no way to live!”
“It just takes time to adjust,” Niko’s familiar voice argued.
“We don’t want to adjust,” said a woman. “Why would you force us into this? We should have never trusted you.”
“Please,” Niko begged. “Please give it a chance. Cassandra can help—”
“Cassandra is the problem,” the first voice interrupted. “All of her rules and requirements. No human blood? How are we supposed to survive like this? Don’t tell me animal blood satisfies you. Don’t tell me you don’t still thirst. We’re losing our strength because of it. We’re
vampyres
, Niko! It’s only natural to drink from humans. That’s what we’re created for!”
Jordan’s grin spread wider. He had taught them so well the art of conniving and deception. He should have never doubted their loyalty. Glad to have them back, he took this as his cue. He signaled Blasius and they sped to the mouth of the crevice, effectively cornering the group of four—two vampyres and two werewolves. He was disappointed not to have Cassandra, but he was already working on that. She would join them shortly.
“You are right, Faiz,” Jordan said, eyeing the black-haired vampyre. He’d been one of Jordan’s more recent favorites. “That is what you were created for. And if that is what you want, we shall have you a human shortly. I’m sure you are
dying
of thirst.”
Faiz’s tongue slid along his lips as he nodded. “We came to her for you, but we cannot stand it any longer.”
“You have done a fine job. You will be rewarded. As for you, Niko … ” Jordan flashed, appearing behind his brother-in-law and forcing him to his knees with a shove to his shoulder. “You are the cause of all this?”
Niko didn’t answer.
“He’s been trying to convince us that we could find our humanity again. As if we actually
want
to be good,” the female werewolf snarled. “And that … that
woman
—”
“Yes,” Jordan said, “she’s become quite full of herself. No need to worry now. I’ll take care—”
“Sir,” Blasius said, nodding back to the front of the crevice.
Jordan grinned. Erik, who took the form of a bear when not human, held a struggling young girl in his massive arms. Next to him sauntered in the little witch Jordan couldn’t rid himself of but right now didn’t care. He would have given her anything she wanted at this moment.
“Very good. Your mother will be next,” Jordan said to the girl who reminded him so much of his twin sister.
Chapter 19
“
MOTHER!
”
Cassandra’s head snapped up at the sound of her daughter’s scream in her head. Her heart shot into her throat, feeling the girl’s pain, and she jumped to her feet.
Where are you?
Letting her mental wall down for a brief moment, Cassandra saw through Andronika’s mind as her daughter looked around. She glimpsed Niko—his wide eyes staring at her with surprise and fear—as well as Faiz, Inga and the two werewolves. Gray stone walls that reached high above surrounded them and Cassandra knew exactly where they were—the crevice where they had discussed trapping Jordan. She had never liked this plan and now she despised it. Her daughter was not supposed to be a part of it. How did she even get involved?
Andronika gave her more images—a vampyre Cassandra didn’t know, a man’s burly arms across her chest … and a familiar face with icy blue eyes and blond hair.
Oh no! He’s already there!
“Mother—” Jordan started but she closed her mind, not waiting to hear the rest.
Flashing hadn’t yet become natural to her but running still was. She sprinted through the moonlit floor of the canyon, weaving around the stone columns that reached to the sky, hurdling bushes and boulders in her path. She rounded the bend that led to the crevice just in time to hear Jordan say, “next.”
Then a shadow darted at her and locked her into a tight hold. She opened her mouth to scream but a hand clamped over it. She kicked and thrashed, but the arms only squeezed tighter around her, nearly cutting off her air. The attacker grunted when her foot connected with his leg, but so did she. He was hard as stone. A vampyre. Then she realized it was one of her own—Michael. Why did he hold her back? What was he doing out here? What had gone wrong?
A rush of air blew in her face and the next thing she knew, they stood in the entry of the crevice, now packed full of bodies, only one of them human. A big bear of a man still held Andronika whose fearful look made Cassandra gasp.
“Just as I said.” Jordan swept his arm out at her with a grin. “We meet again, little sister. Finally. I’ve been looking for you for ages.”