Lucas (Immortal Blood) (11 page)

A cheery tune from Kate’s cell filled the room for the umpteenth time. Neither of us moved. Kate was too afraid and I knew it was not yet time. When the ringing stopped, I grabbed the cell from the table and harrumphed. Seventy-six missed calls from Sam and eight from Alex. Kate shifted uncomfortably. I sat still.

Ten minutes later my phone rang and I smiled. Finally. “Yes?” I answered and my eyes warned Kate to be quiet.

“Lucas,” Sam sighed. “You don’t happen to know where Kate is do you? I haven’t seen her since she left with you two days ago and I’m getting a bit worried.”

I grinned. “As a matter of fact I do.”

“And?” Her voice was anxious. “Where is she?”

“She’s with me.”

Sam went quiet and I knew she’d be wondering what Kate and I had been doing.

I let the silence stretch until it got almost unbearably awkward before stating, “Don’t worry. Her virtue is perfectly safe.”

She sneered but I could hear a hint of relief, and couldn’t help but wonder if she had been a bit jealous.

“We’ve only talked,” I continued. “A lot.”

“Uh-huh. Well, can I talk with her, too?”

“I don’t think so,” I said slowly and glanced at Kate, who had moved a bit closer and was waving her hands, signaling for me to give her the cell. I shook my head, frowning, and she let her hands drop, resigned.

“Lucas, let me talk to her. Now.” Sam’s voice held a warning.

I laughed. “You’re not in a position to tell me what and what not to do. Besides, there’s no point talking to Kate. That lovely little bird’s voice is hoarse from too much singing.”

Sam swallowed.

I got serious. “But I think it’s time you and me talk.”

“About what?”

“About Dane.”

“Dane!” she cried, surprised. “Why would I want to talk about Dane with you?”

“I think you know perfectly well why.”

She laughed with no humor. “Is that so? Well, not gonna happen anytime soon.”             

“You better make it happen.” My voice was almost like a growl.

“Or what?”

I grabbed Kate by the throat and she yelped.

“Okay, okay, I’ll talk with you. I’ll do anything if you promise not to hurt Kate,” Sam said hurriedly and I released Kate. She rubbed her throat, looking murderously at me.

I mouthed, “Sorry,” but she just snorted at me and didn’t buy my apologies. I smiled. Clever girl. “So, about Dane,” I said as if nothing had happened. “I think I’ve solved the puzzle about my brother’s murder but I need to hear it from you, too. Okay?”

I could hear her flinch at the word ‘murder’ and her brain cells working furiously as she wondered what I meant exactly. Yet she was either too scared to ignore me or too curious to let the issue be.

“Okay,” she said quietly.

“Okay,” I breathed. “Meet us at Highgate Cemetery. Near Egyptian Avenue.”

“At the cemetery? You’ve got to be joking!”

“Have you ever been there?” I asked, rather annoyed at her tone.

“No. Why? Is it a secret meeting place for vampires?”

“Actually, it is,” I said and finally I sensed she was listening. “It’s huge and holds a lot of perfect meeting places if you don’t want to be seen. So, let’s say half an hour. And don’t be late.”

“And come alone?” she teased, darkly.

“Yes,” I said seriously and could imagine the smile dying on her lips. I closed my cell, not waiting for her to say anything else, and stood up.

Kate watched me, lips pursed. I returned the look and grinned when I saw her hands trembling. I dropped her cell onto the floor and stomped on it. She inhaled sharply and her eyes narrowed. I flashed my canines and she actually hissed at me, trying to escape from my reach. It could’ve been fun to let her go and play cat and mouse with her, as I was seriously getting fed up with trying to play nice and getting nothing in return. If my creator could’ve seen me he would’ve probably snapped my neck and tossed me into the fireplace. Or he would’ve just burned me alive. But I didn’t have time for that. Sam was coming and I wanted to get to our meeting place first.

“Let’s go,” I growled and grabbed Kate’s hand. “And, please, don’t make any trouble. I’d hate to have to knock you out again.” I smirked and she snarled.

It took about fifteen minutes to get to the cemetery, which was perfect. The air was chilly and I could smell rain coming, so I picked a small clearing for our meeting place. It was close enough to Egyptian Avenue for Sam to find us yet far enough from the few nosy tourists who were roaming the cemetery with a tour guide, their fingers on their brand new smartphones ready to snap shots every two seconds. This cemetery was known for its paranormal activity, so they’d probably be quite happy to witness whatever horrible fate I had in mind for the girls.

Kate stood next to a statue and I ordered her to pick up branches from the ground. Yes, I could’ve done it myself, but I was sure if I turned my back on her she’d vanish into the thick bushes, so I decided to keep my eyes firmly on her. When she had gathered a good pile I made her kneel and put the branches behind her, sticking them into the ground one at a time.

She glanced at them and started to tremble. “Are you going to kill me?”

“Why would I do that? You’ve already given me what I wanted.” I let my hand rest on her hair for a while.

She swallowed and moved her head away. I picked up a branch and played with it. I touched its end to make sure they were sharp enough for what I had in mind.

“Are you going to kill Sam?” Kate asked, shaken.

“Maybe,” I breathed.

“But you promised!” she cried and tried to get up.

I pushed her down roughly and looked at her huge, begging eyes. Her lower lip was trembling and tears had left dirty streaks on her cheeks. She lifted her hands pleadingly and whispered, “You promised.”

“And I said maybe, didn’t I? Now, turn around and behave.”

She did as I asked and I could see her shoulders shaking. She was crying, but luckily she did it quietly. I had no problem with hurting Kate. Heck, I had no problem killing her either if it came to it, and I think deep down she knew it, too. Yet I wished I could do this differently, that in the end she would walk out of all this crap without a scratch. Sam? Well, she was a different story. And no matter what awakening feelings I had for her, I was ready to do whatever was necessary to get even with Dane.

“What happened to you?” Kate’s small voice interrupted my thoughts.

I looked at her and saw the million questions in her eyes.

“I mean, you were a boy once.” She cleared her throat. “What made you this ruthless killing machine?” Her eyes slid to my tattooed wrist.

“Life happened.” I shrugged and wanted to leave it there, but she wouldn’t let me.

“Lucas, he was my father. And if I can forgive his death you should, too.”

“Is that so?” My eyes narrowed. “Well, maybe I’m not the forgiving type. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m more an eye for an eye type.”

She swallowed. “And killing Dane will solve everything? I mean…” she stammered, “after he’s dead you just move on like nothing happened, like you didn’t take a life without hesitation, and like you don’t care what happens to us after that. What happens to Sam? She loves him and if you kill him she will hate you forever.”

“I can live with that.” I stuck one more branch into the ground.

She flinched. “Will you go away after … after it’s done?”

“Yes. I’ll go and leave you all to live out your eternity without bothering you anymore.”

“Just like that?”

“Yes. Just like that,” I snapped. “Will you shut up now? You’re starting to get on my nerves.”

She shut her mouth, looking at me with hurt in her eyes. I sighed, relieved. I had no intention of spilling my soul to her. Not now. Not ever. After I’d kill Dane my life would go on. I’d go back to my creator and do whatever tasks he ordered me to do. And I sure as hell would not look back and feel sorry for what I’d done. And you’d really be okay with that, my conscious mocked me. I smacked it quiet. Yes, I’d be okay. I’d never had trouble sleeping after the kills, and this time was no different.

“Will you go back to Ireland?” Kate asked and her eyes widened with terror as I turned fiercely and grabbed her by the shoulders.

“I told you to shut up!”

She stared at me and even though she was afraid she couldn’t help herself. “Will you?”

I stared back, trying to read from her eyes whether she was just being nosy or already plotting her own revenge trip. I knew I was being a bit paranoid but figured it was better than waking up with a stake in my chest. “Why do you want to know?”

She swallowed and tried to shrug herself free. My eyes drilled into hers, searching for answers, but all I could see were her green eyes, begging me to stop this madness.

I finally let go of her, “Yes, I’ll go back there.”

She nodded but was wise enough to stay quiet.

We waited in silence for the minutes to crawl by. We heard the guide saying somewhere nearby that this was the last tour of the day and the cemetery would be closing soon. We heard the nervous laughter and whispered suggestions that vampires lurked and crawled from under the gravestones after the sun went down, and we heard the guide saying firmly that vampires did not exist. I grinned. If only she knew.

I looked at my cell and checked the time. We’d been there almost forty-five minutes and I was starting to wonder if Sam would show up. Kate opened her mouth as if to say something but closed it when she saw my expression. She stayed quiet for another two minutes.

“There’s no way she’s coming alone,” she eventually blurted out.

My fingers wrapped around the closest branch and squeezed it without me even noticing it.

“Dane would never allow her to,” she continued but didn’t dare to bring the love issue up.

“Good.” I crushed the branch in my hand. “He’ll die faster then.”

She paled and her eyes darted to the broken branch and then back to my eyes. I met her stare coldly.

A soft sound of footsteps killed our conversation. I saw Kate’s intention in her eyes and before she could act I clamped my hand over her mouth, focusing my eyes in the direction of the sound. There was plenty of time for her to scream later. Now was just not the time. Not before I could be sure it was Sam who was coming.

All my senses heightened, I listened to our surroundings. Yes, someone was definitely approaching the clearing. Hesitating and as quiet as only a vampire can be, I sharpened my hearing but could only hear one set of footsteps. I sniffed the air and caught the light scent of vanilla. God, girls were stupid sometimes! Kate was trembling next to me, trying to get free. I forced her to stay still by letting the fingers of my other hand bite into the delicate skin on her neck, making the blood stream. She made an almost nonexistent sound and I pressed my hand harder onto her mouth. I was sure Sam had heard her and I almost waited for her to rush headlong to us, but she didn’t. Instead, she stopped for a moment. I dug my fingers deeper into Kate’s flesh and took my hand away from her mouth. She cried out in pain and Sam started to run towards us, yelling her name. A coldness spread inside me and I prepared to strike.

Sam stopped on her heels the second she saw Kate. Maybe it was the dangerous gleam in my eyes, or maybe it was the bizarre situation she had just walked into, but either way, for once she was speechless.

That didn’t last long though. After a couple of minutes she took a hesitant step towards us. I pressed Kate to her knees slowly without taking my eyes off Sam. Sam inhaled sharply, glanced at Kate once, and leaped next to us. I pulled a sharp branch from behind me and pressed it against Kate’s back.

“Not so fast, love. You may want to step back a bit.”

She backed away, snarling. “What the hell are you doing? I thought you wanted to talk.”

“Oh, I do.” I jabbed Kate with the branch and she cried out. “Let’s talk about the night my brother died.”

“Sure.” Sam swallowed but kept her chin up. “But you need to let Kate go first.”

I narrowed my eyes and shook my head slowly. “Not
gonna happen.”

“Really? ’Cause as far as I’m concerned, hell can freeze before I say anything to you.”

I laughed out loud and shoved the branch a little harder into Kate’s back. She twitched with pain and let out a long scream.

“Stop!” Sam yelled and I tilted my head questioningly. She bit her lip and I could see she was having an inner battle, yet she chose to say nothing.

“Very well,” I breathed and pushed the branch into Kate’s back, making the blood stream. “Suit yourself then.”

I let the branch stay in the wound, pushing it a bit more with small movements of my fingers. Kate wept and the air was filled with the scent of her blood. Sam’s fists opened and closed and the look on her face told me she couldn’t stand the situation much longer. I pushed once more. Way harder than before. Kate’s scream was horrible. I closed my ears to it and pulled the branch out in one swift movement. I looked at Sam and lifted my hand, prepared to shove the branch into Kate’s back again.