Bloodcraft (18 page)

“I know.” Victoria sighed. “I didn’t expect it to be so difficult. The Witch Clans don’t trust the vampires, and they are afraid of me, too. I guess I was trying to prove that I am one of them and on their side. I wanted them to accept me. I was an outsider all my life and for once I feel like I belong somewhere … that I have a place in the world.”

“You’ve always had a place in the world,” Holly said gently. “And you will always have a place here with me.”

“I know, Aunt Holly.”

“Have you eaten?” she asked, and Victoria nodded. “Let me fix you some tea. You wash up and come downstairs. Everything will get better, I promise.”

Victoria nodded as Holly left the room. She stripped slowly and walked into the connecting bathroom, turning the shower to hot. She stared at herself in the mirror, remembering the start of her senior year so many months ago. She’d been just a girl then. Now she was so much more than that, more than she ever expected to become. Despite the changes, her reflection looked the same—dark wavy hair and pale brown skin—except for her eyes. The green seemed weighted down as if they had seen far too much in a short space of time. They looked too weary and too old for someone who had only just turned eighteen. She stepped into the shower and let the scalding hot water run down her body. She washed herself slowly from head to toe, letting her sadness and her memories rinse away with the sudsy water.

By the time she was finished, Victoria had a newfound sense of clarity. She had done what was best for both of them. Now they could be strong for the people who needed them. Grabbing a towel, she stared at the steam-clogged mirror, her eyes catching something forming in its depths. An indistinct shape loomed forward, two bright eyes shimmering for a scant second before the shape vanished. She blinked. There was nothing there but cloudy vapor.

Were you going to tell me that you’d left?

She nearly jumped out of her skin and whirled around, only to see Leto glaring at her from the doorway. Her fingers crackled with suppressed magic. “I could have killed you!” she yelled and glared back at the cat, her eyes narrowing. “How did you get here anyway? Did you come with Aliya? Did she send you?”

No one sent me. You summoned me.

Victoria frowned. “Summoned? How? I didn’t think that was possible … to summon live creatures, I mean.”

It is not, but as you can see, here I am,
Leto said.
I shall add it to your increasing range of talents.

“I didn’t summon you, Leto.”

A part of you did or I would not be here. What has happened?

“I broke up with Christian,” she said tonelessly, sweeping a brush through her wet hair. “And I needed some space. This is the only place I don’t feel hunted or stared at.” She turned to eye the cat. “And where have you been? You’ve been gone for days and days.”

I have business.

“What kind of business?” she snapped. “As my familiar, any business of yours should also be mine. I need to know where you are at all times, Leto.” Something leapt to life in his eyes, a sharp green surge that made Victoria pause. It looked like anger, but then again, Leto had always been moody, even more so after what had happened with Gabriel. She softened her voice and reached for a fresh pair of jeans and a sweater. “Are you okay? You seem agitated.”

I was summoned across the Atlantic on a whim. How do you think I am?

“Grouchy, apparently.” She turned to stare at him, resenting his accusatory tone. “And as I’ve told you already, I didn’t summon you. You’re behaving as if I drew you away from something drastically important. What? Did I interrupt your fourth catnap for the day?”

He eyed her, his green eyes boring into hers in a fiery standoff. She gritted her teeth and held her ground until he looked away. His head bowed slightly and she knew that it was his way of apologizing.
It is better this way
, he said.

“What is?”

That you have ended it with the vampire prince.

Her hands stalled over the button closure of her jeans. “Vampire
what
?”

Oh, I take it you haven’t heard? Word via the secret grapevine is that your ex-boyfriend is the child of a Reii.

“A what?” Victoria was starting to feel like a broken record. A dumb one. She frowned and sat on the edge of the bed. “Explain.”

A Reii. They are very ancient vampires—the most powerful of their kind. One of them was his maker.

She knew what the Reii were, but wasn’t Enhard Christian’s maker? She narrowed her eyes at the silver feline. “How do you know this?”

I have my sources.

Victoria thought back to the primeval sense of power she had felt earlier and Christian’s newfound ability to control his hunger so easily with her. “I thought Enhard was his maker?”

So did he.

“I thought the Reii were extinct? No one has ever mentioned them before.”

Leto moved his shoulders in a very human shrug.
They are—were—thought to be extinct. No one
has
heard of them in centuries. The one that made him was one of the few remaining. She hasn’t been seen since she turned him. It is a mystery whether she is still even alive.

“Why did you call him a prince?”

The strengths of the Reii are revered by the vampires. In the old days, they were rulers of their people—kings and queens of the blood. The new Vampire Council governed by the various vampire houses is an invention of modern times, meant to distribute their power equally. Vampire kings and queens were a thing of a past, until now.

“Have you told anyone of this?”

He stared at her knowingly.
Like the Witch Clans?

“Yes.”

No, but this will not remain hidden for long. Lord Devereux’s power will become a new weapon for the vampires. And should war arise between the witches and the vampires, they will look to him for leadership.
He eyed her.
Just as the Witch Clans will look to you.

“I’m not going to fight Christian,” she said. “That is absurd.”

You won’t have a choice. You have made your position clear, and you are as much a weapon for the Witch Clans as he is for them. If it comes down to it, Victoria, will you sacrifice your people to their enemies over whatever paltry feeling you may have held for one vampire?

Victoria felt the blood drain from her body at his words. Leto was right. She would have no choice but to fight. If the vampires attacked and Christian was on their side, she would have to defend her people. She couldn’t let thousands of witches be slaughtered because … because she had loved the enemy.
Still
loved the enemy. Her breath caught as a fresh wave of agony overtook her. The loss was raw.

“Go,” she growled to the cat, pushing her hand out toward him, the magic rushing through her body like wind. “Go back to whatever you were doing.”

Victoria, wait
, Leto began.

But she couldn’t look at him. He reminded her too much of what she had just done, and she needed to be alone with her grief. She had to put Christian where he belonged—in the past. She closed her eyes and willed him back to Paris. When she opened them, the familiar had disappeared.

She walked over to the white and pink antique dresser and picked up one of the framed photos that Holly had kept. It was one that someone had taken at the masquerade at the Rainbow Room in New York City—she, Angie, Charla, and Gabe. Christian hadn’t gone. She traced the faces of the people in the picture. Strange to think that two of the smiling faces were dead—both casualties of the enmity between vampires and witches that raged on the sidelines of human existence. It seemed like a lifetime ago. And it seemed that history was about to repeat itself.

She picked up a photo set in a silver frame. It was one of her and Christian. Contrary to what most people believed, vampires could be photographed. Frozen in time they looked so happy, untouched by anything but what they felt for each other. She had been so naïve to think that their love could survive all the outside influences. Here in Maine, they had been sheltered from all the hate that divided their species. Their love had blossomed and grown, only to be ripped apart by those who didn’t want to see them together.

And she had let them.

A tear dripped on the glass of the photo frame. Christian looked so unbearably handsome. Anyone with a heart could see the connection between the two of them—one that was evident even in this glossy photograph. She saw it in his hands, in his eyes, in the way his body braced protectively around hers. She placed the frame face down on the dresser and wiped the tears from her face before leaving the room. The sooner she put Christian out of her mind, the better.

On the way downstairs, she heard voices, one of which she recognized. Her heart soared with delight.

“Angie!” she said, rushing into the room and pulling her friend into a warm hug. “You’re here? I thought you moved back to New York?”

“Grad school,” Angie said, smiling back.

“You look great,” Victoria said and she meant it. Angie’s dark hair had been cut in a pixie style and her eyes glowed with happiness, a far cry from the sour and miserable girl she’d been when they’d first met. Notwithstanding that she no longer had the dark cloud of her evil warlock brother Gabriel hanging over her, Angie looked like she was enjoying life.

Her friend’s eyes narrowed as she stared at her. “What’s wrong?”

Victoria knew that Angie was using her special sight, the one that allowed her to see her aura. It was a gift that had been the bane of Angie’s existence—permitting her to see the truth of what people were—vampires, witches, werewolves, or any manner of supernatural creature.

She swallowed. “I’m fine.”

Angie exchanged a glance with Holly, who suddenly busied herself with an excuse about getting fresh herbs from the garden. “I can see that you’re not fine. Your colors are mottled, so much unhappiness. What’s going on? And be honest because I can tell when you’re lying.” Angie’s face was fierce, despite the compassion layered in her eyes.

“I broke up with Christian,” Victoria said, proud that her voice didn’t waver. It seemed that the more she said it, they easier it became. She took a breath at the expression on Angie’s face.

“Why? You two love each other.”

“It’s complicated.”

Angie frowned at her. “I hate that word. It’s a word that
complicates
everything it is used to describe. Last I knew, you and Christian were closer than ever. What happened?”

Victoria collapsed on the nearby window seat and stared out at Holly puttering at the far end of the garden as Angie took a seat opposite at the kitchen table. “Everything happened. School, the clans, the vampires. There’s been a slew of murders. We’re on the brink of war. Being with Christian seemed to be too much of a risk.”

“For him or for you?”

Her gaze snapped to Angie’s. “For
him
.”

Angie drummed her fingers on the table. “Are you sure about that? Pushing people away is easy to do instead of standing and fighting for them.”

Victoria swallowed and reddened. Angie always could cut right through the heart of the matter. “It’s not like that. I—”

“Then what is it like?” she asked gently. “Talk to me, Tori.”

Victoria closed her eyes. On the one hand she knew she could trust Angie. She trusted her with her life. But she didn’t want to betray sacred covenants of the Witch Clans. She took a deep breath. Angie had sacrificed more than enough for her in the past, including being tortured by her own brother. She deserved the truth. “The witches don’t think it’s safe for me to be with him because of the Cruentus Curse. They’re worried that if things do come to war … that … that …”

“You’ll choose to be with him,” Angie finished.

“They’re afraid of me.” A tear slipped down her cheek. “Who wouldn’t be? I’m a monster who can kill with a thought.”

Angie moved to sit beside her on the bench, taking hold of her hand. “You can also heal with a thought, Tori. And you’re no monster. We’ve both seen more than our share of those.” She paused, her eyes unfocusing slightly as she stared at Victoria. “Your power has grown a lot in the time we’ve been apart.” Her voice softened. “I remember the first time I saw you and you were just coming to terms with your magic and what you were. It was so chaotic, like a shimmering rainbow of black and red.”

“And now?” Victoria prompted.

“Now it’s mature. The black is there but it’s layered in so tightly with the rest that it’s almost all one color.” She blinked and her eyes settled on Victoria’s face. “You’re in control, Tori. And I know that’s what you’re really afraid of—that you’ll lose control and put everyone you love at risk. But you won’t.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I know my friend. And I know that she’ll put herself in harm’s way before hurting anyone she loves.”

Angie stroked her back as Victoria hugged her, the first tear joined by another and another until there was veritable deluge pouring down her face. “I slept with him,” she whispered into Angie’s shoulder.

“What? With Christian?” Angie nearly toppled off the window seat, her eyes going wide with alarm. “Like sleeping or the other thing?”

She nodded. “The other thing.”

“But I thought you couldn’t.”

“Me, too,” Victoria said, flushing to the roots of her hairline. “I initiated it and we did, but then we didn’t really finish. It’s hard to explain. But he didn’t bite me and I didn’t go blood crazy.”

Angie’s brows slammed together. “That’s weird.”

“Yeah.” Victoria stared at Angie. “I know I’m stronger, but he said that he had changed, too. And I sensed it. That he was more powerful. He didn’t have to run off to feed as he usually does when we make out.”

“And then what happened?”

“And then I opened my big mouth and said I wanted to … you know … before we broke up. We fought. I used magic.”

“Wow.”

“Trust me, I know.” Victoria swallowed again, her heart swelling on a surge of regret in her chest. The look in his eyes had been excruciating to witness. It’d been damp with betrayal and sadness—emotions she had caused. She’d hurt him just enough so that he would let her go.

“Are you okay?”