The Gates (5 page)

Oh my
.
As if things aren’t stressful enough
. The resistance, which was comprised of vampires on earth and humans in Amaranth, all wanted the same thing—to destroy Samira and reclaim their freedom. The reality that secrecy from our own allies within the resistance was so vital meant our situation was even more vulnerable than I’d realized.

“What else has Gavin told you about the frozen souls—the vampires?” Vivienne peered at me now, her lips bunching as she assessed my face, her dark eyes wide and cautious.

“Only that they were created by this Gérard guy, with the help of your magic, and that your people didn’t approve. Am I right?”

“That’s right, child. It was a disrespect to Voodoo, and our Hoodoo practices. He twisted them, made them somethin’ evil, just to create his own species.”

Gavin cleared his throat and spoke up. “Gérard was Samira’s lover. He betrayed her to create a hybrid species. He and Samira are the only hybrids, which is why they’re the most powerful. He used her as his own personal science experiment, made her part witch, part vampire. He put a spell on her and made her a prisoner of Amaranth to manage his power supply, then left and took their daughter years later. He is Samira’s weakness, along with Arianna. Together, they’re one big, open wound.”

I slid forward on the couch to reach out and touch the wooden box, felt its ridges with my fingertips. “So, Gérard created Samira? Where is he, anyway?”

Vivienne leaned down and popped open the box. “
Mmh-hmm.
She was human once, nah. He stays hidden away, roamin’ the earth, doin’ as he please. The frozen souls ain’t seen him for some time. When he used our magic to turn her into a hybrid, he told her she’d be his queen, rule the land of Amaranth for eternity. She gave birth to Arianna, and she believed they’d be a happy family, using the reformed vampires in Amaranth only as necessary power.
Tssskk.
Samira wanted to treat them with respect, wanted to coexist. But he used our magic to create Amaranth for his energy source, then held Samira captive there after they began having disagreements … about whether Arianna would be human or vampire.”

She pulled out a handful of mojo bags and some parchment, sat in the armchair next to me. “She been a slave to him for centuries, bound to admit immortals into exile to feed his power. And without it, she ain’t got no power, either.”

“Gérard. He’s Arianna’s father.” I looked at Gavin now, in understanding. “He was friends with
your
father?”

“Back in his early conjure days, yes. As he became stronger, he changed. Gérard was never really the same after he created Amaranth. Their friendship eventually fizzled out as he became greedier about packing the city full for his power.”

“So Gérard never really loved Samira?”

“Oh he did, child,” Vivienne’s voice jumped, eyes wide, “he worshiped her,
mmh-hmm
. But they bore a human child—a miracle—and she wanted Arianna to remain human. Ancestors of mine cared for Arianna when she was just a baby. The ones still livin’ said they ain’t never seen a love like the kind Gérard had for Samira.”

“Ancestors?” I glanced between Vivienne and Gavin. “That’s how you know so much?”

Vivienne nodded, saying, “I’m one of the original conjurers, by blood.”

“But Gérard had other plans,” Gavin continued. “He wanted Arianna to become one of us, to make her own decision to change, without Samira’s bias. So he took her away when she was eighteen, and Samira never saw her again … not until Arianna returned to live in exile, after she left Joel on earth.”

Gavin handed Vivienne a bottle of ink. She began scribbling on the parchment, mumbled to herself while she wrote down what sounded like instructions for a spell. Gavin said, “Samira’s wolves—Dali and Akim—they were Gérard’s closest conjure mates, and Vivienne’s ancestors. In her anger, she turned them into her pets when Gérard left her.”

“Indeed, the history has been passed on for generations,” Vivienne kept mumbling, dabbed at the ink. “We don’ like what Gérard’s done with the frozen souls, nah, but Samira will have to answer for her own wrongdoin’.”

I crumpled up my sandwich’s paper bag, observed the items Vivienne pulled from the box, in disbelief that I actually felt a tinge of sympathy for Samira. Was that even possible? Was it rational? She seemed so inhuman; it was hard to picture her having any feeling, any true emotion or empathy for one of us. She was purely animalistic, a creature so cold, I shuddered just thinking about her. “Then why is she so hell bent on making the Amaranthians miserable? I mean, why go against what she wanted in the first place: to peacefully coexist with humans?”

“She just angry, plain ’n simple,” Vivienne reached for more ink. “Gérard hardened her. Now she takes her wrath out on the frozen souls, especially the reformed ones. They’re what tie her to him.”

“No,” I shook my head, thoughts stewing. “She’s remained loyal to him all these years.…” My mind wandered, suddenly hypnotized by the dancing of the pen in Vivienne’s hand. As it glided across the paper, I began to picture my mother again, the way she held on to my father for so many years, even after all he’d done to her. “Maybe there’s a part of her that thinks he’ll come back to her someday.” I spoke softly, still staring at the pen. “So she continues to feed him, to please him.…”

“Listen, nah, child.” Vivienne snapped her fingers in front of my face. “You might be right about that, but don’t you start treadin’ dangerous ground feelin’ sorry for her, nah. She may have had some tough luck, but she still a monster, ya hear? She’ll destroy you and everyone ya ever loved if given the chance.”

“She’s right, Cam.” Gavin sat next to me, looked sternly in my eyes. “Don’t let her history cloud the reality of who and what she is. She didn’t have to turn on the people of Amaranth, didn’t have to take it out on them. She chose to let Gérard ruin her.”

“No one
chooses
that,” I mumbled. “That kind of betrayal alters you.…” As I began to shake, thinking of my mother, Gavin’s cell phone rang and he disappeared into the hallway to take the call.

He returned, his expression frantic. “We have to go.” He looked at me. “Marie came looking for you again, back at Josh’s cabin.”

“And Arianna’s with Josh,” I whispered in realization, remembering the last time I encountered Marie, when she stalked me at that very same cabin. Marie was now even more of a threat. We had to ensure that details of Arianna’s whereabouts wouldn’t travel back to Samira. I sprinted toward the door, Gavin making it to the car before I had a second to ponder what this would mean for our plans.

3

DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE

“We told Josh to make sure Arianna stayed low!” I choked out, rushing toward the car.

“There’s only so much he can do, we knew she’d try to snatch you again at some point,” he called over his shoulder. “I told Josh to bring Arianna to your house. We have to stop by and check up on the place anyway, get some of your things. Come on.”

As Gavin yanked open the passenger door for me, Vivienne called from the front porch, trailing after us with the wooden box. I didn’t even want to think about why Marie had been sent for me in the first place. Probably to make sure I’d make good on my promise to Samira, to allow her to change me and to serve her in place of Gavin’s punishment. No doubt our escape only made my retrieval more urgent to her.

“Wait just a second, nah, we haven’t gone over everythin’,” Vivienne hustled up to us, out of breath. “This is very important, ya hear?”

“I think you gave us everything,” Gavin said, glanced down at the bag of supplies in his hands, patted his pockets for the instructions she’d written out. “We still have a few weeks before the portal opens. We’ll meet again before we leave.”

“Listen, child. You soundin’ like you got it all figured out. But you best watch out for snakes, they come in many different forms.”

Gavin and I exchanged glances. “Snakes,” he muttered, shuffling me toward the car door.

“Just keep an eye out, baby,” Vivienne tried to reign in his attention. “This type of situation tends to manifest itself. But you …” she stepped forward and reached for his face, stared deep into his eyes. “You’ll know what to do when you run into one. You’re the beginning of things to come for your kind, ya hear? Don’ you forget it, nah.”

“I’ll try, Vivienne.”

“And you,” she moved to me next, “you watch out for the water, and don’ be afraid when the time comes.”

“Water and snakes.
Right
.” I glanced at Gavin. “Vivienne, you keep saying you’re not psychic, but …”

“This ain’t about seein’ the future, baby. This already written. It’s the path of our people. We don’ take it lightly when someone messes with our magic, ya hear? Don’ know just how it’ll pan out, nah, but sure enough, it’ll happen.”

“It’s …
written
?”

“Take this, baby,” she opened the wooden box and handed me a small ancient-looking text with strange symbols woven on the front. “It’ll tell ya everything else ya need to know about the frozen souls, an’ their history with our magic.”

“Thanks Vivienne,” I took the book. “We’ll see you before the crescent moon.”

Gavin and I sped off down the long dirt driveway, leaving Vivienne’s plump silhouette in the rearview mirror. I watched her face disappear amongst the Spanish moss-draped trees, feeling more and more foreign to my Southern Louisiana home each passing second.

* * *

“Don’t you take the garbage out? That smell is disgusting.” Marie sat in my kitchen, fussing with her hands, which were tied and secured with duct tape and rope behind the chair. Arianna and Josh stood on each side of her, arms folded, silver blades in hand.

“That’s what happens when no one is here to take it
out,”
Arianna snapped.

“Way to scare the hell out of us,” Gavin replied as soon as we stepped through the front door and saw our unwelcome visitor. “We thought this would be the other way around,” he motioned between Marie and Arianna. I peered around the kitchen, covering my nose to mask the smell of the garbage.

“Yeah, we’ll have to take care of that,” Gavin murmured, crinkling his nose. He continued to pay for my electricity and water, to keep the house available, just in case, but the reality was I’d abandoned my home, just like I’d abandoned my job and every other dream I’d had while living in Louisiana. Yet I knew I’d swapped out one set of dreams for another, and that it was time to conform to the new path.

I stopped mourning my nice, familiar, formerly non-smelly kitchen and pulled my attention back to the tiny round woman who’d recently tried to kidnap me.

“I can free myself from this,” Marie hissed, looking at me. “I have enough energy to snap this chair in half, you fools. Let me go and give me the girl.”

“Well I have news for you, lady,” Josh spat, his face threatening. “Just because you’re loaded up on energy doesn’t mean you can take down three of us. And clearly you know that, because you haven’t freed yourself yet.”

My gaze lingered at my new protector, at his warm hazel eyes and silky brown hair, but I forced myself to look away. I wouldn’t become attached to Josh, period.

“Fools,” Marie hissed again, looked up at Arianna. “And you. You ruined my relationship with my son, do you know that? After I spoke to you at the gates, the day he showed up looking for you right before the war, he blamed me for running you off. He hasn’t spoken to me since then, won’t even answer my calls. I haven’t heard from him in ages! I’ve been working so hard, all of these years, to keep his whereabouts secret from Samira, just so he can be with you, so he can live a safe, happy life. You better be treating him like a king!”

Arianna glanced at Gavin and then toward me. This woman had no idea her son was dead. Would Arianna tell her? It couldn’t possibly be a good idea to reveal that at this point.

“Marie, I’m sorry to hear that you hold me responsible for any problems you have with Joel,” Arianna said. “But I won’t discuss it with you, do you understand? Whatever is going on with you two, you need to let it go. You’re not taking Camille anywhere, and you don’t have to be afraid of Samira. You can trust us. Can we trust you?”

“Ha!” Marie rustled in her seat. “Let it go. Sure, just forget that my son hasn’t spoken to me in over a century. Ha. Samira will kill me or Joel if I don’t bring her the girl, you fool. You know that as well as I do.” I thought I saw tears in her eyes.

“Marie.” Gavin’s tone was soft, sincere. He moved forward, crouched down in front of her and peered into her eyes. “I’m very sorry for the position Samira’s put you in. But you don’t have to be a slave to her anymore. Join us. We’re going back to Amaranth, and we can protect you.”

“Gav—”

Gavin held out a warning hand and stopped Josh. I quietly gasped, wondering where on earth Gavin was going with this. Surely, he wouldn’t reveal our plan of attack on Samira. Marie looked at Gavin, a tear streaming down her angry face.

“Listen,” Gavin said. “What if I told you I could reunite you with Joel,
and
protect both of you, indefinitely?”