House of Ravens (30 page)

She shrugs. “We would have been here sooner,
but this tiny town isn’t the easiest to find on a map.”

I feel like I should smile. But not here.
Not amongst so much blood and so many bodies.

“
You were right, though,”
she continues. “This would have spread. It would have gotten worse.
Already, there is talk from the other Houses. The Bitten are
realizing things are never going to change for them. This would
have been the spark that started the wildfire.”

“
Thank you for your help,”
I say quietly.

She nods her head, and I look away to see
her warriors already stacking up the bodies, creating a pile in the
middle of the field. Obasi carries a container of gas from the
barn, and a minute later, they set flame to the bodies.

“
Sam!” Christian yells. The
look on his face is stricken. Terrified. He walks among the bodies,
searching. “Samuel!”

I hear a groan not ten feet away from me. A
body rolls to the side, and someone very weakly raises themselves
up on their forearms. Noriko pulls her sword out, but the mop of
messy hair makes me still.

“
Wait!” I yell, holding up
a hand and rushing to their side. I squat beside him, brushing away
the mud and blood that coats his face. “Cameron!” I pull him into
my arms.

“
Ah!” he hisses in pain.
“Watch the chopper marks.”

He does indeed have a nice trail of them
stretching from his arm, down his side.

“
Sam?”

I hear Christian whisper across the field.
And the tone of his voice.

Everything in me falls.

Christian sinks to his knees, gathering up a
body into his chest. Sobs rip out of his chest, violent and
unbridled. “Sam!”

Tears once more spring into my eyes, my
lower lip trembling.

Samuel. My friend. The frat boy who was so
loyal and devoted. Christian’s brother. Gone.

And I look to the side to see Nial, kneeling
among the bodies a way off. A fragile, chocolate-colored hand rests
in his lap, covered in blood.

“
Lillian,” I whisper as a
fissure opens up in my heart.

My first ally. Mother to this House. My
friend.

Chills run through my body, so cold. Too
violent.

“
Hold on to the ones you
love tonight,” Noriko says, placing a gentle hand on my shoulder,
her expression sorrowful. “Take them home. My people will take care
of this mess. We will leave when it is done.”

I nod, numbness taking me over. My feet
feeling like lead, I head back toward Ian. He stands ten feet away
from his mother’s body, holding his sister in his arms, who sobs.
Great big desperate cries. His eyes are unfocused, staring off into
the distance. The rifle lies at their feet.

“
Let’s go home,” I say
through my constricted throat as Henry comes to my side, placing
his hand on my shoulder. “Let’s take our own home.”

Nobody moves at first. It’s as if we’re
frozen, glued to the ground with the blood of the fallen.

But the last rays of twilight sink behind
the trees, casting us in darkness. With another sob, Christian
lifts his brother’s body up into his arms. Nial picks up Lillian.
And I see May scoop down to pick Rowan up from across the
field.

Three. We lost three of our family members
today.

“
Let’s go home,” Ian
whispers to Elle. And slowly, in stiff movements, they walk to my
side. Leaving Cora Daphne Ward where she lies, alone, on the front
steps.

SO MUCH LOVE AND SO much care is given in
preparing the ones we love to be put to rest.

As usual, Rath takes care of things. He has
some people come out the very next morning and build five new
tombs. All lined up with my mother and Elijah. And Henry’s empty
one.

But through the night, we take care of our
fallen.

Cleaning their bodies. Dressing them with
care. Running through so many memories. Thinking of lost
futures.

Tears stream down my face without
ceasing.

No one says a word.

Some of us watch from the ballroom windows
as the crew builds the tombs. With every brick they lay, the ache
in my chest grows more profound.

Just after dusk, when the workers have left,
a procession carries five bodies from the house.

Holland. Francesca. Rowan. Samuel.
Lillian.

One by one, we slide them into their final
resting place. One by one, they are sealed away for forever.

Obasi left last night after he helped the
House of Himura clean up the bodies, having completed his mission.
Now, only fifteen people stand before five new tombs, each of us at
a loss for words. Each of us sharing so much pain.

Someday, I will offer every one of my House
members the opportunity to take the cure for vampirism. But for
now, we have to keep its existence a secret. We have to let it fly
under the radar, until that day comes to end our King.

I can only pray that until that day, we do
not lose any more family members because of the danger that comes
with being our species.

“
I haven’t known all of you
for long,” Leigh says, tucking a lock of her black hair behind her
ear. “But even though it hasn’t been long, the love here is real.
This shouldn’t have happened. I will miss them. All of
them.”

“
You know, even though
Francesca betrayed us,” Lexington speaks up, his throat tight, “she
was still a good person. Being what we are…” he trails off, his
throat thickening. “It means we’re always going to be a part of
some kind of twisted games and politics. We fall. Things happen
that we don’t always get over. But this…” he shakes his head. “This
didn’t need to be this way. You will be missed. All of
you.”

Tears roll down my face. Elle comes up to my
side, clinging hard to me. Ian comes up to my side, wrapping his
arms around the both of us.

“
The Kask family was never
perfect.” It shocks me when it is Henry who speaks up. “But their
father was a good man. A good leader. While I never knew his sons
well, I can only thank the both of you for how you have helped my
daughter. I thank all of you. From the bottom of my heart.” He
addresses those who rest before us.

I look to Christian. He stands with his
hands folded in front of him, his face pale and sickly. Anna stands
beside him, her arm looped through one of his, her head resting on
his shoulder in support.

And Nial. His eyes are distant, his
expression hollow.

Things were developing between him and
Lillian. They found something in each other that had been missing
for a long time. And now, it has been ripped away. Cut too
short.

“
I’ve hated you all
forever.” It’s Trinity who speaks up. “I can’t say I completely
blame Cora Ward for what she did.” This earns her more than a few
red-eyed stares, but she rushes forward. “Because it doesn’t all
seem fair, you know? That things aren’t even. That there are all
these divisions: Bitten, Born, Royal. I hate the idea of someone
being elevated over another.”

Her eyes rise up to meet mine, and I think I
finally understand, at least a little bit, why she has seemed to
hate me all this time.

“
But I knew I couldn’t
survive on my own,” Trinity continues. Emotion makes her throat
thick, her words constrained. “So, I attached because I didn’t feel
like I had a choice. But this…” She shakes her head, emotion
choking her off temporarily. “This is the real deal. When Lillian
walked away from what we were, and even worse, when Samuel left,
too, I could see it as nothing but a betrayal. But they saw it
first. What
good
really looks like. Thank you for showing me.”

The tears roll faster and harder down my
face with her words. Because they’re real and genuine. And so hard
won.

Everyone is quiet for a long time. I sense
that they are waiting for words from me. But I feel as if I’m
drowning, so mournful for my friends. My family.

Francesca—who did betray us. But only
because she too had been hurt. She who was given away. Were things
different, she had so much potential.

Holland—who I never even got the chance to
get to know, but reminded me so much of the girl I hug to my
side.

Rowan—forced to Resurrect as just a boy by a
deranged member of the King’s court. He was never given a chance to
have a real life.

Samuel—who was always my friend. Who I
trusted with my life. Who can never be replaced in my heart.

And Lillian—my first ally. My friend. My
helping hand. A mother to those who needed her. A tender gem in
such a hard world.

None of them can ever be replaced. Not in a
thousand immortal lifetimes.

“
I love you all,” I finally
croak out around the tears that slide down my face. “You were my
family in my darkest hours. You gave me the confidence I needed to
do what had to be done. You supported me. You will be missed by
each of us, throughout our immortal lives. Rest in
peace.”

I STAND OUTSIDE, IN THE full light of day,
unaffected by the bright afternoon sun. I watch the construction
crew, not really taking in the details, not really feeling much of
anything.

The workers are adding onto the House.
They’re filling in the gap between the ballroom and the garage with
more bedrooms. It’s weeks later, but I still can’t overcome the
feelings of unease and paranoia. We were separated. So much could
have happened. Bad things could have become so much worse because
we weren’t together.

Maybe I’m going overboard. Maybe they will
begin to feel smothered. But I’m keeping my House all under one
roof.

All fifteen of us.

Two Royals.

Eleven Born.

One human.

And one hybrid.

A bead of sweat makes its way down my back,
reminding me that it is indeed the middle of July here in
Mississippi. It’s hot. Those poor workers have sweat running down
their faces, drenching their clothes.

My enhanced body doesn’t react the same as
theirs, but I remember well my first August in Silent Bend.

“
Are you ready?”

I turn to find Ian and Henry watching me
from the veranda. They’re both dressed nice, watching me with
expectation.

I smile at the sight of them. My father and
my future husband. I nod, and the three of us head to the
garage.

We take the Jeep, down the drive, and then
into town.

The legend of Henry Conrath has been so
astounding, so deeply rooted. Associated with so much fear. But
we’ve been changing that, along with the reputation of the House
and the vampires in general.

We cleaned up town. The feeling of doom is
gone. There have been no more attacks. And Silent Bend finally
feels safe. With the help of select citizens of our town, it’s
being made known that it was our doing that made it so.

With the aid of Henry’s lens implantation in
the eyes of everyone who wanted them, we now walk freely through
the day. We are contributing members of society. Engrained.
Somewhat accepted.

Some of the House members hold jobs. Cameron
is ridiculously happy working at the local Mexican fast food
restaurant. Leigh, I learned, had just passed the bar when she
Resurrected. She’s working with a local attorney. And shockingly,
Trinity went back to high school to get her diploma. She only
attends two classes a day, the rest is done online, because most
parents are terrified to know she walks among their children. But
it’s a start.

Henry pulls up to the restaurant, parking in
front of the doors. Ian scrambles out from the backseat, opening my
door for me, before slipping his hand into mine. Together, the
three of us walk into The Catfish, one of only two sit-down
restaurants in Silent Bend.