Mirage (18 page)

In seconds, I heard footsteps on the opposite side of the door. I sucked in my breath expectantly, my heart pounding against my ribs.

The door swung open, and Trevors stood there peering down at me. His face was drawn, his brow furrowed. “Miss McKenna?”

“It’s—yes—Violet,” I stammered, wondering where this sudden case of nerves had come from. It was only Trevors, I reminded myself.

“Of course. Violet. Please, come in.” His voice was kindly as he stepped aside, gesturing toward the expansive marble-tiled foyer behind him.

As soon as I stepped across the threshold, Cece beside me, a shiver raced down my spine. Something was happening—I couldn’t explain it, but it felt as if my senses had become heightened. Colors were more vivid. The heated air from the radiator brushed against my skin, making it flush hotly. And the weirdest part? It was almost as if … as if my entire body was
vibrating
.

“Are you okay?” Cece whispered.

I couldn’t answer, couldn’t say a single word in reply. Instead, I was hyperfocused on my right hand, my fingers flexing at my side.

My stake.
I wanted my stake. It was in my bag; if I could just get it, just wrap my fingers around the satiny shaft—

“Hey, snap out of it!” Cece reached for my forearm, giving me a little shake. “What the hell’s wrong with you?” she whispered harshly.

I shook my head. “I … I don’t know.” But I
did
know. It was almost like a voice in my head, an alarm.

Vampire,
it was screaming.

Calm her,
came another voice in my head.
Let her know that you aren’t a threat
.

Trevors?

He was watching me intently, seemingly unaware that I had just breached his mind—and I was pretty sure that I had.

“I am
so
sorry,” I said at last, shaking my head, forcing myself to take a deep, calming breath. “I think I need to sit down.”

“Of course,” he said, leading us into the living room. “You’re always welcome here, even in Master Gray’s absence.”

The word “absence” reverberated in my head. Aidan was absent. He wasn’t here.

Cece cleared her throat, nudging me in the ribs.

“Oh, Trevors, this is my friend Cece Bradford. She’s my roommate at Winterhaven. Cece, this is Trevors, Aidan’s … um, his …” I trailed off, unsure.

“Employee,” Trevors supplied. “Household manager, I suppose you could say.”

But I heard another word in my head, spoken silently with great pride:
butler.
He preferred the term “butler,” I realized, but somehow deemed it old-fashioned. Out of date.

Shaking my head, I forced myself to break whatever tenuous connection there was between Trevors’s mind and mine.

With a sigh, I took a seat on the sofa. Cece sat beside me. Aidan’s absence seemed like a big, gaping hole. I’d never been here without him. “Aidan’s not here?” I asked, running my fingers along the familiar velvet cushions beneath me.

Trevors shook his head. “No, he’s with Luc Mihailov. They left just yesterday. I’m not convinced that he’s well enough to travel, but …” He paused. “If you’ll excuse me for a moment, Miss McKenna, I’ll make some tea. You’re looking rather pale, if I might be so bold.”

“Sure, of course,” I mumbled.

Cece nodded enthusiastically. “Tea sounds nice.”

“Very good, Miss … Bradford, wasn’t it? Just let me put the kettle on, and then we can chat.”

As soon as Trevors disappeared, Cece put a hand to my forehead. “Okay, what’s going on? You don’t feel hot or anything.”

I shrugged, noting that the uncomfortable sensations had lessened the moment Trevors left the room. “I think some
Sâbbat
stuff is going on. My instincts are starting to kick in or something.” It was the only explanation that made any sense.

Cece’s dark eyes looked troubled. “Do you think he’s a threat? Trevors, I mean?”

“I don’t think so. I mean, Aidan said I was one hundred percent safe with him—some sort of ‘life debt’ he owes him, or something like that.”

Still, butterflies fluttered in my stomach. I’d brought Cece here, to a house where we were alone with a vampire who wasn’t Aidan. What in the world had I been thinking? If something happened to her, if I couldn’t protect her …

I let the thought trail off, refusing to examine it further. This was Trevors we were talking about, not some random vampire. Aidan trusted him, and so should I. Hadn’t Aidan left me alone with him, late at night, when he’d gone off to feed? Whatever this life debt was, it meant that Trevors would protect me in the same manner that Aidan would, and I was sure that the protection extended to my friends, too.

Aidan and his kind were
not
dangerous—at least, not to people like me and Cece.

But where had Aidan gone off to with Luc? And more to the point, why hadn’t he told me? None of it made any sense.

I physically felt Trevors’s presence the moment he stepped back into the room carrying a large silver tray. He set it on the sideboard, removing two dainty teacups from the cabinet below. “Cream and sugar?” he asked, seemingly oblivious to my reaction.

I attempted to silence the warning bells going off in my head, to subdue the weird sensations. “Both, please. Lots of sugar,” I added.

“Same,” Cece chimed in.

“Careful, it’s hot.” He handed a cup to Cece, then to me.

I wrapped my hands around the delicate china, hoping the warmth would quell their trembling. This was crazy. I didn’t get this way around Mrs. Girard, I realized. Maybe her constant presence created some sort of immunity? I had no idea, and no one to ask.

Trevors sat opposite us, regarding me thoughtfully. “I assume we can speak freely in Miss Bradford’s presence? I believe Master Gray said that your roommate is aware of the situation.”

I nodded. “We can talk. Cece knows everything.”

“Very well.” He leaned forward in his seat, one forearm resting on his thigh. It was a posture that suggested urgency, and my anxiety level ratcheted up a notch in response. “I’m worried about him,” he continued. “He’s not been himself these past few weeks. And now … well, I’m sure I needn’t tell you how atypical his current condition is. For our kind,” he clarified. “Vampires don’t just fall ill.”

“It’s that serum he’s injecting,” I said. “I don’t know what it’s doing to him, but it seems to be getting worse.”

“And yet he feels as if he’s experiencing positive effects from it, as well,” Trevors said with a nod. “I just don’t know what to think.”

I took a sip of my steaming tea, watching Trevors over the rim of the cup. “But what does Luc have to do with any of this?” I asked. “He’s on the Tribunal, right?”

Trevors raised one brow. “He is, indeed. But he’s also a friend of Master Gray’s. Or perhaps I should say they are friendly. To a degree, at least.”

“So I shouldn’t be worried?”

“Not about Luc,” he answered cryptically.

Cece leaned forward, placing her now-empty cup on the coffee table in front of us. “Well, where did they go?” she asked.

Trevors shrugged. “I’m not certain. Paris, perhaps?”

I let out my breath in a rush. “Paris?”

“Paris is the seat of the Tribunal these days.”

“He’s going to the Tribunal?” I groaned. “Why would he do that?”

Trevors sighed heavily. “I wish I had answers for you, Miss McKenna. Truly, I do.”

“You really care about him, don’t you?” I said softly. “More than just a household manager would.”

He smiled wanly in reply. “Of course I do. I assume he’s told you of my debt to him?”

I shook my head. “Not the specifics.”

“Would you care to hear the story?”

Would I ever.
There was so much about him I didn’t know; each little tidbit was a piece of the puzzle falling into place. “Of course I would.”

Beside me, Cece nodded enthusiastically.

“Very well.” He leaned back against the chair’s cushions, a more relaxed position than before. “I’d known Master Gray in my mortal life, you see. I was head butler at Asbury House, Lord Tewksbury’s London home in Grosvenor Square. Viscount Brompton’s town house was right across the square; young Aidan was a childhood playmate of Tewksbury’s eldest son. Trust me, the two got into a fair amount of mischief.”

I couldn’t help but smile, imagining it. “I’m not surprised.”

“Anyway”—he waved one hand—“years later, long after Aidan had disappeared, presumed dead, I had the misfortune of crossing paths with a female vampire who had, in her mortal life, suffered at the hands of my employer, Lord Tewksbury.

“Lucinda was the most dangerous sort—a vampire bent on vengeance. I became an unwilling pawn in her plot. She turned me, intending to use me to destroy Tewksbury and everyone he loved.

“When I proved uncooperative, she decided that I simply needed to be persuaded. First she threatened my daughter, a grown woman who was living in London and working as a seamstress. Lucinda killed her immediately—a show of strength. She wasn’t playing around, and she wanted me to know it. My wife had long since passed, a victim of influenza, and the only family I had left was my granddaughter. Camilla was beautiful and smart, off at school, hoping to become a teacher someday. Lucinda gave me an ultimatum—I could join her in her plot, or Camilla would suffer the same fate as her mother.

“By that time,” he continued, “I’d become acquainted with London’s vampire community. I was pleasantly surprised to find Aidan, alive and well. So to speak, of course,” he added. “I turned to him for help; I had no one else. Aidan was very … how shall I put it? Very
angry
in those days. And he was far stronger than me, given that he was turned as a young man.”

Cece’s eyes were wide. “I can’t believe someone would … well, you know, do
this
to you, at your age.”

“There are plenty of vampires who were turned at my age, Miss Bradford, though most were willing, attempting to evade death. Who knows”—he shrugged—“years later, had I been facing the same certain fate, I might have chosen this path. One never knows …” He trailed off, a faraway look in his eyes.

“So Aidan helped you?” I prompted.

Trevors nodded. “He saved Camilla and destroyed Lucinda. As punishment, he was sentenced to twenty years of confinement by the Tribunal. When he was released, I pledged my life to him. I will serve him in whatever way necessary, as long as I walk this earth. It’s an excellent arrangement, actually. He needs someone to manage his household, and I enjoy doing so. It’s a comfortable life for me, and I strive to make his equally so.”

“That’s … amazing,” Cece said.

I let out my breath in a rush. “Twenty years? They imprisoned him for twenty years for saving a child’s life?”

“For destroying a vampire,” Trevors corrected.

I shook my head in disbelief. “A murderous vampire! Who was killing people for no reason. I mean, isn’t
that
against your rules?”

“Lucinda’s punishment would have been far more severe than his, had she succeeded with her plot. Besides, twenty years isn’t so very long to a vampire. In the face of immortality, it’s just a blip in time, really.”

“I guess so,” I said, unconvinced.

In twenty years, I’d be thirty-seven. Would this brief time spent with me seem so inconsequential to Aidan, just a minute blip on his radar?

No.
Because Aidan would be long cured by then—mortal again, and close to my own age. He
had
to be.

“He could have just saved Camilla,” I said. “If he hadn’t destroyed Lucinda, he wouldn’t have been punished. He could have turned her over to the Tribunal instead.”

Trevors regarded me with one raised brow. “He could have, yes. As I said, Aidan was very angry then. He didn’t know who had turned him, and any female vampire in London was suspect, as far as he was concerned. He would have destroyed them all and willingly paid the price, given the opportunity. I knew that when I sought his help.”

“You only wanted to save your granddaughter,” Cece offered. “Anyone would have done the same.”

He acknowledged her kindness with a nod. “My only regret is that I wasn’t able to save my daughter, too.”

“What happened to Camilla?” I asked, hoping the sacrifice had been worth the price.

His mouth curved into a smile, the corners of his eyes crinkling with obvious delight. “I’m pleased to say that she went on to live a very long, very happy life. She became a teacher, married, and had five children. Some of her descendants live here in New York today, though most of the family remains in Britain. I keep close tabs on them all, each and every one of them,” he added, his voice filled with pride.

“That is so cool,” Cece said. “Being able to see all those generations, I mean.”

“Indeed, though I’m also forced to witness them age and eventually die. It’s all part and parcel of this curse.”

I leaned forward in my seat, curious. “Say Aidan
does
perfect the cure. Will you take it?”

“Would you think me a foolish old man if I said I wasn’t certain? I’ve had nothing but time to ponder the question, and yet I cannot say what my answer will be when that day comes. And it
will
come, Miss McKenna. For Aidan’s sake, we must have faith. In all these years, I’ve never seen him so determined.”

I just nodded, unable to reply. My emotions were too raw, too unsettled. I wanted to believe that I was the reason for Aidan’s newfound determination.

And yet … the responsibility weighed heavily on my mind. Was his single-minded, desperate pursuit of the cure causing him to act carelessly? Had he grown too hasty, hoping to beat the clock because of me?

He would deny it, of course. He was obstinate—and brilliant, I reminded myself.

Beside me, Cece cleared her throat. “We should probably get going,” she said, glancing at her watch.

Looking down at my own, I grimaced. “Patsy’s going to be home soon.” I stood, setting my empty cup on the table. “Thanks, Trevors. For the tea
and
the talk. I really appreciate it.”

He nodded. “Of course, Miss McKenna.”

“If I leave you my cell number, will you call me if you hear from him? In case, you know … I don’t hear from him first?” I hoped it wouldn’t come to that, but I was starting to realize that there was still an awful lot about Aidan I didn’t know. I understood why he kept some of his history from me—he wanted me to know him as he was now, as the boy he would be when he was cured. I got that. Really, I did. But to fully understand him, I had to understand his past. It was a part of him, no matter how strenuously he denied it. Shielding me from it served no purpose, as far as I could tell.