Immortal Destiny (The Immortal Prophecy Saga) (16 page)

“Why on earth did she lie about it then?”

“It contains the identity of James’ father.”

“Who is it?” Adele asked leaning forward.

Ally shook her head. “I’m sorry Gran, but I can’t tell you.”

Adele nodded. “That bad, is it?”

“Afraid so,” Ally said. “But I have good news to tell you quickly because James is on his way out!”

“Out with it then.”

Ally held up her left hand to show her grandmother. “James asked me to marry him!”

Adele squealed with delight and jumped up to hug her granddaughter. “Oh, Ally! I’m so happy for you…both of you.”

“Thanks, Gran.”

“You told her then,” James said smartly as he walked out to join them on the terrace.

“She did,” Adele said, and gave him a big hug too. “Congratulations James. I told you that you’d win her over eventually.”

Ally laughed. “I didn’t think he would.”

“It was a bit dicey for a while there,” James joked and put his arm around the bride-to-be.

“Have you told anyone else?” Adele asked.

James answered. “No. I’m going to tell Damian in a minute. I’ve been told he’s stolen my study.”

“Well, off you go then,” Adele said pointing towards the door. “Ally and I have girly stuff to talk about.”

“In that case I’ll be off,” he said with a grin and kissed Ally before he left.

“Now back to his father,” Adele said when he was out of earshot.

“Gran, I can’t tell you who it is,” Ally said firmly.

Adele clarified. “I’m not asking you to tell me, Ally. I’m asking
why
you won’t tell him.”

“Because it will tear him apart.”

“He has a right to know, my girl.”

“But you two hid secrets from me remember?” Ally pointed out. “It’s not totally different from that.”

“Maybe it is and maybe it isn’t. But how did you feel when you found out that we had been hiding things from you?”

Ally groaned. “I felt betrayed.”

“Exactly!” Adele said. “Don’t forget one of your fiancés talents is reading minds. All you have to do is think about something at the wrong time and he will know.”

Ally stared at her, the realisation that she was right came crashing down around her.

Adele continued. “Now wouldn’t it be better if he heard the truth come from your mouth, rather than an errant thought?”

Ally heaved a big sigh. “Damn it. I know you’re right, but how do you tell someone you love something that you know will shatter his world and change the fabric of who he believes he is.”

“You do it with love, baby girl.”

“Love?”

“Yes, with love. You tell him the awful truth and then love him with everything you have and everything you are. Give him whatever it is that he needs to pull it together and get past it.”

“You make it sound so easy.”

“Well,” Adele said, cocking her head to the side. “I didn’t mean to. It won’t be easy and if it’s as bad as I think it is, then it might just be the hardest thing you’ve had to do yet.”

“It will be…”

“Then may I make a suggestion?”

“Of course.”

“Give yourself a couple of days to get ready. Watch your thoughts closely, plan how you’re going to do it and then tell him.”

“There’s something else that is bothering me about revealing the truth,” Ally walked to the balcony and leaned over looking at grass beneath them. “This person…what if I had to be the one to end their life? Would James ever forgive me?”

The coffee cup Adele was holding dropped to the ground and shattered to a million pieces. She was next to Ally in a flash. She grabbed Ally by the shoulders, twisted her around, and gave her a hard stare. “Please tell me I’m wrong. Tell me that James’ father is not Vincent,” Adele almost pleaded.

Ally looked away, unable to bear the grief in her grandmother’s eyes.

“Ally…”

“I can’t tell you that, because you’re not wrong,” she took a deep breath and faced her grandmother again. “Vincent is his father.”

“Oh my god,” Adele said and stumbled back to her seat. “How is it possible?”

“It’s a long story, but do you still believe I should tell him?”

Adele looked up at her with wild eyes and didn’t speak for a full minute. “You must,” she replied gravely.

That was not the answer Ally was hoping for.

Adele broke the heavy silence. “In answer to your question though, yes he will forgive you. He might even do it himself…”

Ally sat down next to her grandmother and let her troubles engulf her for a time. She would be happy when James was around, but for the moment, reality was staring her in the face and she couldn’t ignore that.

A few hours later, James walked Ally to their room and lingered in the open doorway. “Are you sure I have to go talk to Damian?” He asked as he tucked a stray hair behind her ear, and dragged the back of his hand down her cheek. Ally shivered in response and looked into his eyes and found herself caught in his gaze.

“Yes, I’m sure,” she whispered, not sounding convinced at all.

James’ eyes clouded over. Ally knew what would happen next and felt no desire to fight it.

Relishing the feel of his lips on hers, she moved closer to him and felt his arms slide around her waist and held her to him. A sigh escaped her throat as he deepened the kiss.

A growl rumbled from inside him, and she knew that he would end the encounter sooner than she really wanted but he had other obligations to attend to.

All too soon, James softened the kiss and put a small amount of space between them.

“I better go before we start something that needs to be finished,” he said with a cheeky grin.

Or maybe you should stay
.

“Ally…”

“Right,” she said with a frown. “The mind reading.”

“I wouldn’t have to be a mind reader to know what’s going through your mind. You don’t exactly have a poker face, you know.”

She took a deep breath and stepped backwards into the room. “I’ll see you soon.”

“I won’t be too long.” The disappointment at leaving was written on his face. “We’ll be in the study if you need us.”

Ally nodded and closed the door. She leaned against the back of it as she tried not to sulk that James had to be somewhere other than with her.
She wanted him more than ever because their bond was growing stronger each day. The more she knew him the more she loved him, and the more she loved him, the more she wanted him.

A single touch could set her body on fire…

A simple look sent shivers down her spine…

Three little words made her soul sing…

Chapter Twenty-two

The next three days belonged to training and the nights to James. They had talked until there was nothing left to say and spoke to each other with their bodies when the words had dried up.

Try as she might to forget about the revelations in the diary, it haunted her day and night. James had asked her to marry him and she had agreed with her whole heart, but knowing what she had to do tonight was eating her alive.

She also knew that she needed to speak to Isabella and tell her what she had planned. It was a conversation that she was dreading.

Ally was gathered with the rest of the gang on the grass for yet another day of training, when a smell she knew but couldn’t place straight away floated under her nose. And the feeling of being watched came over her again. The same sense of unease bathed all her senses until she was no longer aware of anything else.

A voice invaded her thoughts and brought her back to the present. “Ally?”

She looked up to find all the immortals staring at her. “What’s wrong?” Adele asked.

Ally hesitated telling them the truth for a moment, it was highly possible she was just overreacting but on the odd chance she wasn’t, she decided to tell them. “I smelt something and I’ve felt like someone has been watching us for the last three days.”

“Impossible,” James said with a hint of arrogance. “We would have sensed it if someone was nearby.”

Overreaction as I thought then
.

Damian disagreed. “Well we should have, but we’ve underestimated the vampires before and look what happened, James.”

Adele was inclined to agree with him, but James had migrated back to the land of cavemen. “Yes, but not when it comes to sensing them.”

“James, you have to admit that we are most relaxed here and not always on guard. It’s entirely possible,” Damian said then turned to Ally. “What did you smell?”

“It smelt like jasmine and musk.”

Adele gasped.

“What is it Adele?” Damian asked clutching her arm.

“I know that scent,” she said looking at Ally with wide eyes. “It’s what Kat always wore.”

“Of course it is!” Ally exclaimed. “That’s why it was familiar to me.”

All four of them knew what this meant. The manor was not the safe haven they had thought it to be. If Kathryn could get past them, what else could?

“Could it have been her in the forest the other night?” Ally asked James.

He shrugged. “It could have been. That would explain why the smell wasn’t as rancid as usual. She still has a bit of humanity at this point so it masks the full smell of a vampire when they are first turned.”

Ally’s eyes lit up and a spark of danger flicked in them. James braced himself for what he knew was coming next. “Maybe she needs help. And maybe there’s still hope if there’s even a small trace of humanity left in her. Perhaps that’s why we’ve been seeing all the flowers? It’s a message that only you or I would understand!”

“Ally,” James began. “She is beyond help, even in the early stages.”

“How do you know for sure?” she challenged. “Have you ever spent time with a new vampire to know for sure?”

James screwed up face. “Certainly not!”

“Well then you don’t know, do you?”

“Ally, I can see where you’re going and it’s out of the question!” he said, returning to the former caveman thinking again.

“What, you’re going to forbid it?” she asked with deadly intent.

James had his back up now. “As a matter of fact, yes I am going to forbid it!”

Damian sighed and Adele rolled her eyes. They both knew where this was going.

“Fine,” Ally said to James. “Forbid away. Doesn’t mean I’ll take any notice of it…”

“
Ally
.”

“I’ll be in my room if any of you want me.” Turning to glare at James, she added, “That of course doesn’t apply to you! I’m unavailable as far as you’re concerned.” With that, she stormed off to her room.

“Really, James?” Damian drawled. “You didn’t see that coming?”

James was staring at the back of Ally and began to shake his head. “Women! I’ll be in my study. Keep a close eye on her, she’s planning something… I can feel it.”

Adele giggled under her breath and Damian stifled a laugh. “What are we going to do with those two? Things were going so well.”

“Then the caveman reared its ugly head,” Adele said. “He’s right though, she will be planning something. He knows her too well already.”

They joined hands and began a slow walk back to the house.

Chapter Twenty-three

Ally opened the door to her room and slammed it shut behind her. She leaned back against the door with her eyes closed and pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration.

“If there’s even the slim chance of helping her, then why the hell wouldn’t we?” she fumed aloud as she moved away from the door and flopped down on the bed trying to decipher if there was anything she could do.

Something began to tickle her nostrils, a smell not at all unpleasant and something familiar. The smell which had been faint at first began to become more potent and got her full attention. “Oh God, not another one.”

She hesitated for a moment and turned her head to the pillow beside her.

There it was.

A red flower with a note attached.

Unable to move, she just stared as it glared back at her – cold and unmoving. Her hands took on a life of their own and trembled as one reached out to take the note. As she brought it closer an ice cold shiver ran through her.

Was that an omen?

She dragged in a deep breath for courage and began to read the note –

Ally,

I need your help.

Meet me in the forest outside the manor tonight.

Come alone.

Kat.

“So it was Kat!” she exclaimed.

Ally began to pace up and down in front of the window, reading the note over and over again. Common sense told her that she ought to tell the others about it and decide as a group what they should do, but she knew what their response would be. Everyone had been so adamant that there was no hope for Kat once she’d been turned. They were probably right, but Ally had relied on her gut instinct for too long now to ignore it.

It was not the smart thing to do. It was reckless and it might even get her killed but this was Kat. If the situation had been reversed she knew that Kat would do the same thing she was about to do. She wouldn’t even hesitate.

“So much for telling James tonight,” she said quietly looking out the window. “God help me…If Kat doesn’t kill me, James will.”

A few hours later, she quietly gathered what she could, a jacket, her walking boots and the only weapon she had in her meagre arsenal, a knife. She picked up the knife and twisted it back and forth in her hand.
I don’t know if this will even help me, but I need to take something!

The house was silent as she crept through. A floorboard creaked under her feet as she reached the terrace door. She stopped immediately and looked to the ceiling above, waiting for any movement.
Not that there’s much point though, he could be down here before I even heard him make a sound.
After a minute of silence she decided to keep moving but avoided stepping on the floorboard again, just in case.

Once outside, Ally ran towards the forest eager to get the potential suicide mission underway. She looked back to the house and saw James through the study window. Her heart jumped into her throat. He was pacing back and forth, but he wasn’t looking out the window. She took a deep breath to calm her beating heart. Truthfully, she desperately wished he was going with her, but she knew that would never happen.