Eternal Shadows (3 page)

Chapter Two: Lessons

I stumbled down the hall, weak and dizzy. Tripping over my own feet, I grabbed at the first thing available—and took down the old portrait of my great-great-grandfather from the wall. Needless to say, it didn’t help my balance. I landed on my knees so hard my teeth shook, and I wondered for probably the thousandth time that day why it still hurt so much. Wasn’t immortality good for anything? At the very least I should be able to stumble around without turning black and blue.

Irritatingly, I could hear Rhys’s ever-present footsteps coming up behind me.

“This is ridiculous, Kassandra.”

“Shut up.”

“You look terrible. Just drink already.”

I hated how he always sounded so condescending, like I was due to give in at any time. “I’ll die first.”

“Not likely.”

“Watch me.” Grandfather’s frame had shattered all over the floor. Maybe that was part of the reason why my knees hurt so bad. I grabbed the nearest shard of glass. Strange how easy it seemed. I didn’t so much as think twice. I plunged the shard deep into my chest.

It hurt way more than I expected.

I couldn’t scream. I didn’t have enough strength. Collapsing onto my side, I imagined the cries I wished I could make while my chest burned with pain. I held my breath and some of my nerve endings ceased their tearing, ripping, gnawing, grating agony. And then I waited for death. Sweet death.

Rhys’s familiar exasperated sigh ruined my perfect moment.

“Kassandra, you’re delusional now. You know it takes more than that to kill a vampire.”

Oddly enough the pain made the fog around my brain fade a little. I did know that. I’d staked him and look where that had gotten me. Dammit. Now I had a gaping hole in my chest for no good reason. Well, maybe not no reason…

“I’ll just starve to death then.”

“Not possible.”

“I will kill myself.”

“You won’t.”

“And why not?” Anger was good. It made me feel better.

“Well, for one thing, you won’t let me teach you anything so you don’t know how. And secondly, because I won’t let you.”

“I hate you.”

“So you’ve told me. Will you eat now?”

“If I let you teach me, then can I kill myself?” I already knew the answer.

“No. I won’t teach you that for at least one hundred years. Probably longer in your case, since the knowledge is a privilege.”

Blah, blah, blah. I dragged myself off the floor and sat in poor Grandfather’s remains with my back against the wall. I yanked the jagged shard from my chest. It hurt just as much coming out as it had going in. The glass plinked against the wall when I threw it in disgust. I’d stay right where I was. He could deal with it.

The silence that passed was filled with nothing but my physical misery. I was determined to make my point.

“That’s it.” With speed worthy of an ancient blood-sucking immortal, he grabbed my arm and hauled me to my feet. The hallway spun and I was very glad vomiting was not something that plagued vampires. Puking all over Rhys’s shoes, while grossly satisfying, would not have helped the stubborn image I struggled to hold onto. “You’re eating.”

“No.” I didn’t sound convincing, even to myself. The thirst burned so badly. I’d almost been able to ignore it before, when I was wallowing in my misery, but now, with Rhys so close, it was impossible.

He was so warm. Warm with the blood I had been denying myself. My own skin felt cold like ice with his warm hand wrapped around my arm. I wanted to be warm. I wanted to feel alive, and not half-dead. I wanted to drink, and drink, and drink…

I terrified myself.

I was a monster. And at that moment, leaning against Rhys’s warm body, feeling his unnaturally cool breath on my face, I knew I would give in.

He didn’t say anything, just threw me over his shoulder like a sack of grain and started walking. I tried not to bounce against his back simply because it would have been annoying. Honestly, I was too tired to really care, though. I watched the smooth red carpet pass beneath his feet in a blur. Interesting. My arms flopped around over my head—under, really, since I was upside down—uncontrollable and with minds of their own. His jeans rubbed against my wrists with each bounce, and I stupidly wondered how difficult it was to adopt new fashions all the time. Jeans hadn’t existed when Rhys was born. Though, he did look good in them, I could see that very well from my vantage point. Five hundred years had been kind to him in that department. Maybe that made it easier.

My admiration of his backside was cut short when we reached the stairs. He flipped me back easily, carrying me in his arms instead. How nice of him not to let my head drag down the stairs behind him. He would have to cut it out with all this being nice stuff. It made it much harder to hate him utterly and completely. On the plus side, I was pretty sure I was getting blood all over his shirt.

We were down the stairs, through the front hall and out the door in mere seconds. As soon as his foot touched the first step I felt the warmth of the sun hit my deathly cold skin.

I had forgotten that it was daytime, somewhere around noon. I knew it took more than a stake to the heart to kill a vampire, but what of sunlight? Surely there had to be some sort of truth to the myth. Maybe it was the truth. Rhys had had enough and he was going to give me my wish. He was going to kill me.

I started to scream.

I kicked at him, hollered for him to put me down. I was so cold the spring sun felt like fire. I was burning, I was sure of it. But Rhys kept on walking. Down the seven steps I had counted so many times as a child and onto the large front lawn that stretched out in front of my house. When we reached the middle, he dumped me to the ground. I curled up into a ball, hiding my face from the light of the sun, and waited for the smell of my own burning flesh. Would I turn to ash like in all
the movies? The vampires always screamed in the movies, screamed as they were burned alive. Now it was my turn.

Turns out, I didn’t really want to die.

But I didn’t burn. Shaking, I realized I still had possession of all my skin. My clothes weren’t on fire, and I smelled no sign of ash. But there was something else. Something that made my throat dry and my tongue burn. I felt the stretch of the teeth in my mouth. My pulse drummed, slow and lethargic, against my temples, in my wrists, at my neck. My shaking increased and I dug my fingers into the perfectly manicured grass.

“Lesson one,” I heard R
hys say from somewhere above me. “Sunlight will not kill you, you can go out in it all you like. But most young vampires avoid it for a time, hence the stories.”

“Why?” The thirst was back so badly I thought I would die from the want. “Why avoid it?”

“Because sunlight strengthens the bloodlust, makes it almost uncontrollable. Control can be gained with age and experience, of course, but in the interest of maintaining a low profile, young vampires stay inside unless they’re well fed.”

The heat of the sun was driving me crazy, warming my skin in a way only human blood could maintain. “Then why did you bring me out here?”

“To combat your stubbornness. You won’t be able to resist now when I put blood in front of you.”

“I won’t kill anyone!”

“I didn’t ask you to.”

I stopped. “What?” Still fearful, despite his words, I cautiously peeked out from beneath my arm. Rhys had been standing over me, but now bent down beside me so I could see him better. His eyes were an even more brilliant blue in the sunlight.

“Feeding does not mean killing. Lesson two. Some vampires kill all the time, others kill some of the time, and others kill almost never. However, blood is a necessity and it’s not nearly as beneficial coming from a bottle.”

“I don’t want to bite anyone.”

“This first time, you have to. It will diminish the thirst and make you strong. Once you’ve given your body what it needs, you’ll be able to think and you’ll be able to uphold any decisions you make about your feeding habits.”

I turned my face into the grass and groaned. All I could think about was how warm he was, and how cold I felt. But the thought of biting someone…I couldn’t. Could I? My pulse thumped against every vein in my body, demanding relief. The sun made it worse. Despite the chill of my flesh, I felt like I was running a fever. If Rhys put blood in front of me now…

Footsteps. I heard them so clearly they captured my attention immediately. Different from Rhys’s steps, these were more delicate, softer. New. I’d never heard them before.

“Honestly, Rhys, you’d think you’d never dealt with a newborn before.” The voice was high, feminine, almost like bells on the air, only there was an undertone of something much darker that tainted the otherwise beautiful sound.

I heard Rhys shift. “What do you want, Madge?” He didn’t sound happy to see her. Out of curiosity, and hoping it would deter my insane thirst, I turned my head to look.

“Cade sent me,” she said. “He’s looking for you.” Her perfect bob was bleached blonde, yet it looked natural. Her smart little nose was turned upward, and her full,
Cupid’s bow lips were painted red. She looked like an old-fashioned doll, dressed in the modern version of a blue drop-waist dress.

Rhys stood. “What does Cade want?”

“You,” she said simply, sticking one hip out. “He said it was urgent. And he asked me very nicely to do this little favor for him.”

“Sorry you had to exert yourself.”

“Anything for you, dear brother.”

Brother? That didn’t make sense. She looked nothing like him, and vampires didn’t have families like that. Well, they never did in any of the movies. Lesson three, the movies are wrong. Rhys would be so proud that I was learning.

“So this is the new addition,” Madge said, stepping closer. She lifted her dainty blue shoe that matched her dress perfectly to tilt my chin up. I jerked my head away. “She doesn’t look like much.”

“Neither did you your first week,” Rhys said.

She scoffed. “Nonsense. I drank right away. You must be thinking of Millie.”

“My memory of those days is better than yours. Leave her alone. What does Cade want?”

“He didn’t tell me, you know he wouldn’t tell me. I’m just here to fetch you.” She tucked her hair behind one ear and smiled at me. It didn’t look friendly. “What on Earth have you thrown her in the sun for? And why is she covered in blood?”

Rhys grumbled. He did that a lot. I wondered if I was the cause, or if it was a bad habit. “She tried to kill herself. She refuses to feed. I was hoping the sun could persuade her.”

Madge rolled her eyes. “Oh, Rhys, you’re too nice about it. It’s as simple as this.” She disappeared for the briefest moment, then returned with a girl in hand. I recognized her, though I hadn’t noticed anyone else around before. Our housekeeper, Anne, had hired her only last week to work in the kitchen. She made the most unbelievable brownies. Could I eat brownies now? One more thing to ask later. Maybe I really shouldn’t have been giving Rhys such a hard time. I’d know a lot more by now if I had just listened. But I would not drink blood. Nope. Never again. He couldn’t make me.

The girl, I think her name was Samantha, gasped and turned pale. I thought I saw Madge move, but couldn’t be sure. Then I smelled it.

Blood. Fresh, warm, living blood.

Oh, no.

Madge pulled the girl closer and the smell grew all the more potent. Then I saw it. The bleeding wrist, covered in bright red and ever closer to my face. I turned my head away, shoving my nose back into the grass and dirt, but it didn’t alleviate the scent. The blood was all I could smell, all I could think about.

Something dripped onto my cheek. It rolled slowly, painfully towards my mouth, warming its trail along my skin. I felt it coming, knew exactly when it would hit the very corner of my lips, and when it did, my world exploded. The drop crept over my tongue, down my throat and then I felt more join its traveled path along my face.

I wanted more.

“That’s enough, Kassandra.” I heard him, but still only had one thought—
more
. “Enough!”

Everything came bursting back to life and my senses returned. The sun shone down on my skin, warm and no longer in contrast with the way I felt. I was breathing hard, but each breath was exquisite. The grass beneath me was cool and welcoming. My chest felt whole again, the final fibers stitching themselves back together. I felt perfect. Full, satisfied, relaxed…alive.

I wasn’t thirsty anymore. And someone was laughing.

“Kassandra.” Rhys grabbed my face with both hands and forced me to look at him. It couldn’t be possible that his eyes were actually a brighter blue than I had originally thought, could it? Actually, everything seemed brighter. The grass, the sky, the buildings in the distance. But the laughter bothered me.

“What happened?” As soon as I asked I realized thinking had become simple again. In fact it was downright easy.

Rhys’s expression looked like a strange combination of anger and concern. Naturally I assumed he was angry at me. That seemed to be the way of it. “You fed.”

Even though I was positive I had heard him perfectly, I wanted to believe I hadn’t. “What?”