Life's Blood (The Cordelia Chronicles) (20 page)

For the second time in thirty minutes, I was so startled my heart stopped. I had to grab the handrail to keep from tumbling backward down the stairs. I held my breath, waiting for the mystery man to say something more.

Though the air was cold, the temperature suddenly dropped another few degrees, and I knew a vampire was in our midst. The way the moon was shining, we could only make out the backlit silhouette of a figure. It could be James, but I wasn’t sure. And if it was, I didn’t know that he would let us walk away this time.

Now that Eli knew the truth about James, he had to be thinking the same thing I was--that James had been bred to kill me, just like all of Chaseyn’s other siblings. Or worse, that he’d want to take revenge on me because I was the reason his maker, Alexei, was dead.

Of course, Romania was filled with vampires, which meant James was only one of many possibilities. And if it wasn’t him, I had no idea what fate we faced. And, I thought that was probably worse. It was too dark to see the expression on Eli’s face, but it didn’t take something like Chaseyn’s sixth sense to guess Eli was every bit as terrified as I was, and I was trembling all over.

“James
is
my brother.”

I exhaled when I heard the familiar tone of Chaseyn’s voice. Not more than a second passed before he was scooping me into his embrace, and I collapsed against him. He kissed the top of my head tenderly, and I cherished the feel of his body close to mine. Even after everything we’d faced the past few months, I’d never been so scared as I was tonight. Until now, we’d always known what to expect, but now, the circumstances had changed. Everything was unpredictable, and unlike Frost, who knew exactly what she wanted--to turn me--James was a wild card.

“How did you know where to find us?” Eli asked innocently, but I already knew the answer.

Chaseyn held up my arm and twirled the rose bracelet he’d given me more than a year ago that I always wore around my wrist. I’d learned how valuable it could be the last time I was in Romania, when Chaseyn had used it to track the location where Balthazar had kidnapped me. The memory left a bad taste in my mouth, but I quickly pushed it out of my head. Balthazar was on our side now. I had to believe that--for Mina’s sake.

“I got here as fast as I could,” Chaseyn said. We’d walked to the top of the stairs and into the moonlight so I could make out the sad look in his eyes when he spoke the words.

“It’s alright,” I said. “Everything’s okay.”

“But what if it hadn’t been? What if something had happened to you?”

Chaseyn turned away from me then and kicked the dirt. He was beating himself up over something, but I didn’t know what.

“Tell me what I missed,” he said shamefully.

“Your freak-show brother showed up out of no where and scared the crap out of us,” Eli explained. “Thought he was going to bite Lia, or worse, and he had me in some superhuman death grip, so I couldn’t even do anything about it.”

Chaseyn punched a tree, and it snapped in two.

“Whoa, calm down, man,” Eli said, patting Chaseyn on the shoulder. “You couldn’t have known.”

“But I should have,” Chaseyn said under his breath. “I didn’t feel it, Cordelia.”

Chaseyn pointed at his heart, and I knew what he was getting at. He’d always been able to sense my emotions--happiness, sadness, fear…you name it. And the nearer he was to me, the stronger he felt what I was feeling--in his heart. Our hotel was only a few blocks from the Covered Staircase, so he should have had a strong connection. Yet, James was long gone before Chaseyn had arrived. His heart--the one thing that set him apart from full-blown vampires--was starting to fail. The end was nearer than we’d thought.

Eli wandered aimlessly from tombstone to tombstone in the cemetery just outside the Covered Staircase, giving Chaseyn and I a few minutes alone. We stood silent, staring at the moon. We could talk about what was happening, but I wasn’t really sure what to say. We were already doing everything we could to prevent the inevitable, and I just had to hope it was enough. After a moment, Chaseyn took my hand in his, and I make a conscious choice to remain positive. To believe we would come out on top.

Eventually, Eli rejoined us, and Chaseyn filled him in on the situation with Addie. To say she was upset would be an understatement, he told us. He wasn’t sure if Addie was more angry at me for keeping this secret from the very beginning or with Eli for not telling her once they started getting serious. Either way, it wasn’t good. Then, Chaseyn handed Eli a key, and my breath hitched. Surely, Addie wasn’t breaking up with him, was she?

“What’s this for? Eli asked, looking at the key in his palm like it was an object from outer space.

“I booked you another room for the night,” Chaseyn said. “I took your bags down so you’d have your stuff.”

“No. No way, man. I’m not letting her do this,” Eli sobbed. Tears were falling from his eyes, and though he tried to wipe them away with the sleeves of his coat, they kept flowing no less.

“She’s not
doing
anything,” Chaseyn said. “Not yet, anyway.”

“What do you mean not
yet
? Is she breaking up with me?”

“You can fix this,” Chaseyn explained. “You just have to trust me.”

Eli took the key and stormed off. I noticed he took the path along the hill rather than the Covered Staircase as he made his way back toward the hotel. Knowing just what--or rather who--might be lurking in the shadows, I wished he wouldn’t wander off alone, but I also knew there was no way to stop him right now.

“Don’t go to her room, Eli,” Chaseyn called after him. “You have to trust me.”

But Eli didn’t stop walking. He didn’t even look back.

***

Chaseyn and I continued our walk around the grounds at the top of the Covered Staircase. Aside from the cemetery, the only other attraction was an enormous, gothic building--the Church on the Hill. Despite the late hour, the heavy door opened when we pushed on it. It creaked loudly, alerting anyone who might be inside of our entry. It was dark, but Chaseyn could still see fairly well, and he was certain we were alone.

Dating back to the fourteenth century, the Evangelic church housed dozens of tombstones and an impressive fresco of the Holy Trinity. We found a candle and some matches just inside the door, and we inspected the interior by the faint light of the glowing flame.

After a few moments, Chaseyn twined his fingers through mine and led me to one of the wooden pews. He pulled me close, and tilted my chin up gently with the tips of his fingers.

“I love you,” he said, the words barely audible.

Then, he kissed me. He kissed me like it was the end of the world. I’d never felt such passion and intensity. Despite the frigid temperature inside the stone building, I felt nothing but warmth from the top of my head to the tip of my toes. I knew he was trying to convey some message, something more than the words he’d just said, but I didn’t know what he was trying to say.

“I’ve been thinking,” Chaseyn said, taking his lips from mine. As much as I didn’t want him to stop, it seemed wrong to be steaming up a church like that. I needed a moment to catch my breath anyway.

“Yeah?”

“I think we should--”

We were brought back to reality by the sound of a man’s voice shouting angrily at us, cutting Chaseyn off mid-sentence. Even in the darkness, I could make out the sight of the man’s flailing arms as he ran toward us. In fact, he‘d taken the newsboy cap from the top of his head and was flapping it at us like he was trying to chase away a stray dog.

Chaseyn spoke to the man in a language I didn’t understand. Romanian, I presumed. I had no idea Chaseyn spoke the local dialect, but then again, there wasn’t much Chaseyn couldn’t do. He knew at least five other languages, and it only made sense he would be fluent in the mother tongue of his ancestors--even if he never planned on following in their blood-sucking footsteps.

Whatever Chaseyn had said seemed to calm the man’s temper, and I waited patiently while the two of them talked. Occasionally, one of them would shift their gaze or point a finger in my direction. It would have made me uncomfortable under any other circumstance, but I knew Chaseyn was trying to charm the man into letting us leave without pressing trespassing charges. Eventually, the man--who had long ago replaced the hat on his head--tipped it toward us and stood to the side so we could make our way to the door.

“He lives around the corner,” Chaseyn explained. “He’s the minister here, and he also cares for the church and its grounds. He couldn’t remember if he’d locked the door when he’d left earlier, so he just came by to check.”

“And it scared him when he heard noises inside,” I deduced.

“He felt badly when he heard our story,” Chaseyn said.

“Oh, yeah? What’s our story? Enlighten me.”

“We’re young lovers tracing my Romanian routes before I succumb to a terrible illness,” Chaseyn said.

I gasped. How could he say that? And like it was just a matter of fact. Surely, he didn’t really feel that way, did he? Just then, we rounded the corner and the stone cottage where the man lived came into view. It was surrounded by a lush garden and was one of the most quaint, cozy homes I’d ever seen--next to ours of course.

“It’ll be alright, Cordelia,” Chaseyn whispered. “I know what you’re thinking, but I didn’t want to tell a lie while I was standing in the middle of a sanctuary. My soul is doomed as it is.”

“Don’t say that.”

“I’m pretty sure they don’t look favorably upon vampires at the Pearly Gates--even partial ones,” he smiled. “Give me a break, love. I’m trying.”

I smiled and tugged his arm hard, pulling him down the wending path.

“Come on,” I said. “Let’s get home to bed.”

***

“We have to get married, Cordelia,” Chaseyn said quietly in the darkness. We had both been awake for hours, pretending to be asleep, and it was about time one of us broke the silence. I was glad it was Chaseyn, because I had no idea what to say. I just hadn’t been expecting him to say this.

“I told you I need to finish school first,” I said, turning to face him.

“We don’t have that long,” he replied.

“What do you mean?”

“We both know the end is coming for me,” Chasyen said, and though I didn’t want to hear the words, I knew he was right. Tears started to burn a trail down my cheeks.

“I have no doubt we’ll be able to get our hands on everything we need to make the elixir, I just don’t know Mina and Balthazar will be able to find someone from my direct line of ancestors. So many of our kind don’t even know who turned them,” Chaseyn continued. His voice hitched, and I knew he was fighting back tears himself. “Not to mention most of them are steering clear of anyone who has anything to do with me these days…They weren’t particularly fond of Alexei, but still, they don’t look kindly upon vampires killing other vampires. We’ve made quite a few enemies.”

“Shhh, I know. You don’t need to say anything more,” I whispered, pressing my finger gently against his lips.

“But I do,” Chaseyn insisted, pushing up on his elbows. “I know I said I was fine before, but I’m not, Cordelia. I can feel my body changing. Every minute of every day, I’m getting weaker.”

I pulled Chaseyn tight against my chest, smoothing his hair with my hand. He had spent the past few months assuring me everything would be alright, but now he had to face the truth--he wasn’t invincible. And he’d spent so much of his life believing he was.

The truth was hard to face, but he couldn’t deny it any longer. And I couldn’t stand the thought of watching him grow weak, sick. But he had been strong and held me up when I needed it most. Now it was my turn to do the same for him.

“I’m scared,“ he sobbed.

Me, too, I thought, but I didn’t say anything. Instead, I nodded my silent agreement. With his head pressed against my shoulder I knew he couldn’t see the gesture, but he’d be able to feel it, sense it, and that was enough.

Somehow, I would have to be the strong one now. I didn’t know how to do it, but for Chaseyn, I would do anything. For now, the best thing I could do was hold him while he cried.

When Chaseyn’s tears had all dried, and we were laying side-by-side facing each other, we resumed our earlier conversation.

“Marry me,” Chaseyn said. “Addie and Eli are both here, they can stand up for us in a small local celebration. I know your mom isn’t here, and your grandma, but we could call Mina and Balthazar. They could come be with us, too.”

I paused a moment and thought about what Chaseyn was asking. I wasn’t sure how to respond.

“Say something,” he pleaded. “More specifically, say ‘yes’.”

“Okay.”

“Okay?” he asked, pulling me into his embrace.

“Yes,” I whispered.

How could I deny a dying man his last wish?

Chaseyn and I eventually fell asleep, and we slept until well after the sun came up--a rarity when you’re living with a vampire--even a half-vampire. I didn’t know what to expect when I knocked on Addie’s door the next morning, but I could never have anticipated there would be
no
response. I knew she was upset by the events of the night before, and I hoped she hadn’t done the midnight dash and left for home in the wee hours.