Secret Worlds (433 page)

Containing the power required a lot of concentration, which gave me a constant headache. I forbade the servants from using all lights, allowing only the use of candles. This helped alleviate the pain somewhat as evil was not as restless within the dark. The first servant who balked at my request keeled over dead. The others obeyed out of fear just like they had with my parents. I knew the drill.

Every time I exploded something, I would have a few restful moments from the sharp pains in my head, but as days turned into weeks, the pressure grew, and I wondered how much more my body could take. If I could, I would have removed the necklace, but that was impossible. The evil inside me was far stronger than any will of my own.

All the recent fires and explosions baffled people. Because they couldn’t come up with a logical explanation, they assumed it was terrorist attacks, and the country was on high alert. I laughed at them, at how the government tried to make the people feel safe. They would go to war if the attacks didn’t stop—the President had said so earlier this morning. I hoped he wasn’t bluffing. War would provide the perfect cover for my destruction.

Still without sleep, I paced the halls of the Segur estate at three in the morning with my hands clenched tight, nails digging into my palms. The pain was so intense that I couldn’t think of anything else, not even a place to send the dark magic to.

The trapped energy screamed inside me, chanted and begged to be released. The skin on my arms vibrated strangely as if someone was holding a struck tuning fork to it. Then, to my horror, the skin began to stretch outward by the evil within. Physically, I could no longer control it. The left wing of the mansion exploded into flames, releasing some of the pressure.

It didn’t take long for the old mansion to be consumed by the fire. The servants who had chosen to remain with me out of fear now fled. No attempt was made to save the home.

I walked out from within the fire; the flames did nothing but tease my skin. I drifted through the nearby blackened forest, no longer caring where I went. To prevent myself from feeling any more physical pain, I continued to expel the dark energy inside me, sending it whatever place I thought of first. Behind me, the morning sun touched the fading night sky and, if I could, I would’ve destroyed that, too.

“You’ve caused some major damage,” a voice said.

Surprised I’d been caught off guard, I turned around. Not far stood the vampire Eve had met in Paris.

“I know you,” I said.

It was his turn to be surprised. “I don’t believe we’ve met.”

He didn’t recognize me, and I wondered if I even looked human anymore.

“What do you want?” I asked.

“To stop you.”

“Is this a habit of yours? Stopping powerful women who just want to have some fun?”

“This may be fun for you, but innocent lives are being lost.”

“You sound like a broken record.”

His brow furrowed and his lips pursed together. Oh, come now, I couldn’t be
that
hard to remember.

Levitating, I circled around him in a great loop, my bare toes dragging against the early morning frost. “How did you find me?”

He kept his eyes on me, his muscles tense. “Evil of your magnitude can be felt from any distance, if one is looking for it.”

I liked him. He was brave when all others fled. I remembered how Eve had also been drawn to him, but for an entirely different reason, something to do with his eyes.

“Why do you seek out evil?” I asked.

“To stop it.”

“Why would you do this, especially knowing my power? I could destroy you with just a thought.”

“Then why haven’t you?”

I titled my head. “You want to die?”

“I want to stop you. It is of no consequence to me if I die trying.”

“You interest me, vampire.”

He didn’t respond, but his eyes flashed to my neck. “That’s quite a necklace,” he said. “Where did you get it?”

“It was a gift.” My eyes narrowed. “Did you come for a friendly chat? I thought you wanted to stop me. Don’t lose your focus.”

He took my advice and bolted toward me at lightning speed. I let him attack, anxious to see what he was capable of. He struck me hard, and I flew backward to the ground. I thought he’d wait for my reaction, but he didn’t stop. In an instant, he was upon me, fangs bared. His hands struggled to get at my neck or the necklace, I couldn’t be sure which.

Finally, I’d had enough. I shoved him away hard, feeling his bones break beneath my palms. His limp body crashed into a dead, blackened tree that snapped in two. He collapsed to the ground, moaning and balled up with a grimace on his face.

“That was impressive,” I said. “I thought you’d give a lady a chance to recover, but you couldn’t get enough. I admire your passion.”

The vampire hobbled first to his knees, then staggered to his feet, one hand clutching his side. His knees buckled, and his other hand reached out to steady himself against the broken tree trunk.

“I could use someone like you by my side,” I said. “What do you say?”

“I’d love to,” he said, breathing heavily. “But there’s only one problem.”

“What’s that?”

“I
hate
witches.” He rushed me again, but this time he jumped high into the air to flip over me. When he was directly above my head, I stopped his motion. He remained frozen in the air, feet up, his head dangling just inches from mine. He fought against my mental grip, but it was useless.

“Think about what I’m offering,” I said. “I’m giving you life. I give this to no other.”

He stopped thrashing and stared directly in my eyes. “Let me down.”

I stepped out of the way and released him. He dropped to the ground, gracefully completing his flip. “Your plan tempts me. Maybe I will serve you.”

“Just like that? You’d be my puppet boy?” I shook my head. “It’s never this easy.”

He shrugged. “I’m not a fool. You’re clearly more powerful than me, and I’ve been with worse. It won’t be that bad.”

“That bad? You have
never
been with anyone like me.”

Without warning, he lunged for me. I easily stepped out of the way. To me, his movements were slow, but in reality, he moved faster than I’d ever seen Boaz move. He reversed directions and ran at me again, scooping up a short branch in the process. I froze him within arm’s reach.

“You’re not learning!” I said. “You can’t beat me. Why are men so dense?” I glanced at the tree branch in his hand. “And what exactly were you planning to do with that?” The veins in my face pulsed with anger. “No answer? Well, let me show you what I’ll do with it.”

Mentally, I took hold of the stick and turned it toward him, despite his resistance. The muscles in his face bulged from straining, and he grunted, spit running over his lips. He was strong but not strong enough. With a quick blast of mental energy, the branch stabbed through his gut and out his back, inches from his heart. He fell over, making a gurgling sound.

I casually approached him. “You are so beautiful, writhing in pain and agony. I could watch you for hours.”

He struggled to speak.

I knelt beside him and stroked his head, but when my fingers went through his short black hair, I pulled it hard. “Don’t ever trick me again.”

And in that brief moment, while I was distracted, he reached up and tore the necklace from my neck.

Sunlight. Blinding, glaring sunlight. I squeezed my eyes tighter even though they were already closed.

I didn’t want to wake up.

If I didn’t wake up, then I wouldn’t have to live. The thought of living right now was more frightening than anything I’d ever faced. Was that how it was with consequences? Could it be that living with them was more terrifying than committing the very act itself?

Despite the warm sunlight, a chill rocked my body. Alarica was gone. The evil that had existed within her no longer controlled my heart and mind, yet remnants of it remained like aftershocks of a massive earthquake. They were a constant reminder of all the damage I’d caused, all the innocent lives murdered by my alter ego’s desire to destroy.

I tightened my fingers into the wet spring ground. The cool earth against my palm calmed my racing blood. The dirt brought life and death. I wasn’t sure which sounded better at the moment. My reasoning ability was still muddled not only by Alarica’s innate darkness, but also by my own. Because of my past actions, I’d lost the ability to choose right from wrong. I reasoned, however, that if I had the awareness to recognize my conscience had been lost, then maybe it was possible to get it back. I had taken a small step on that path before the necklace, but how would I do it now, after everything I’d done?

The vampire
. The vampire who had destroyed Alarica. The vampire who had given me light. He would know. It was him who had told me that power was a dangerous thing. Maybe he could help me again.

Relaxing my fingers, I finally opened my eyes and sucked cool air into my lungs. I turned my head to the side. A glint of silver reflected the sunlight through the tall weeds. I squinted to get a better look. I jerked violently and scrambled away as quickly as possible until my back hit against a tree. I frantically looked around to make sure I was alone, and then returned my gaze to the necklace.
I must destroy it!

I spotted a jagged stone poking out from the dirt and used my fingers to pry it free. I approached the necklace slowly as if it were alive. The blood inside the glass orb appeared frozen; ice crystals spread upon its surface like miniature spider webs.

Without hesitation, I lifted the rock and brought it down on the glass. I closed my eyes, expecting it to shatter, but instead the rock merely bounced off the orb. I peered out of one eye. The blood within the sphere was no longer solid—it was boiling. I reached for the orb, wanting to feel its surface for any signs of damage, but just as my finger was about to touch the clear exterior, the blood leapt at me, stopped only by the glass. I jumped and breathed heavily.

Before I could think twice, I raised the rock again and smashed it over and over until I could no longer lift my arm. Exhausted, the rock dropped from my hand. The necklace remained intact with not a single crack evident, but the boiling blood inside had turned black, and I had the eerie sensation that it was laughing at me.

Defeated, I stood.

Just over the tree line, a thin trail of smoke rose into the clear blue sky. I tore a thick branch from a nearby bush and placed it over the necklace, then I jogged toward the fleeting smoke, knowing I was close to my old home. After some distance, the trees thinned out, and where my parent’s mansion once stood, only the walls of the east wing remained. I scanned the area looking for signs of life. If someone had come to inspect the source of the fire, they weren’t here now.

I approached what was left of the home. Several fires burned low in different areas, and coals glowed bright. I carefully rounded the back to the remaining brick walls. There I found a few of my family’s belongings that had not yet been destroyed. There was no sadness for the lost items. They were only reminders of a life I didn’t want to remember.

Using a stick to poke through the remaining items, I tried to ignore the searing heat even when blisters formed on my feet and lower legs. Luckily, it didn’t take long for me to find something I could use.

I bent down and used the bottom section of my nightgown to wrap up a small circular metal box. And even though the metal burned through my gown and to my hands, I maintained a tight grip. Pain was something I was used to.

Back in the forest, I removed the tree branch from over the necklace. The blood within it was back to looking frozen and still. I fell to my knees, letting my mother’s jewelry box roll out of the nightgown and to the ground. The word “Sable” was elegantly etched into the circular lid.

The box, once a brilliant gold, now was a dark rust color with burned splotches. I opened the lid, knowing it would be empty. This box only ever contained one object: my mother’s favorite ruby ring. She wore it more than any other piece of jewelry, and the box was only used to house the ring at night.

Carefully, I used a stick to lift the necklace from the ground. As I lifted it, the blood within the orb once again came to life. It thrashed inside the glass as if searching for a way out like a caged lion. I placed the necklace inside the jewelry box and closed the lid. With the necklace no longer in view, I let out a sigh of relief, but didn’t relax too much. My task was not yet over.

I picked up the box and carried it to the long driveway leading to the destroyed mansion. The row of gnarled, angry-looking trees stood impervious to the earlier blaze. I walked past each one, eyeing them closely until I stopped in front of the third tree. It had a gaping knot in the center of the trunk as if a mouth forming the word “Oh!”

Using the same stick I’d used to transfer the necklace to the box, I dug at the base of the tree. I shoveled until the branch snapped, forcing me to use my hands. I dug as far as I could until the rocks became too big. After placing the jewelry box inside, I quickly buried it and made the top appear as if the ground had never been disturbed.

I stood up and inhaled deeply. With the necklace out of the way, I could finally concentrate on what to do next. There was no question that I would have to leave New York. Erik and Sable would come looking for me. My only hope was that they’d think I had died in the fire.

In the meantime, I needed help, and there was only one person whom I felt I could trust: Liane. I had to find a phone.

It took my about twenty minutes to find my way to the nearest neighbor. I wasn’t worried about them recognizing me, as I’d never met them before, nor had my parents. According to Erik, our neighbors were below even a friendly nod. It wasn’t that they were poor; in fact, quite the opposite. They had a huge stucco home and drove a Ferrari, but they were regular humans, which placed them well beneath the rank of the Segurs.

The housekeeper who answered the door didn’t hesitate in letting me inside. One quick look over me—ash and soot covering my bottom half—and she asked, “You were in that fire, weren’t you?”