The Night House (25 page)

“You will make it back, you hear me?” He brushes my hair behind my ear. “You will.”

I nod.

“Any other weaknesses that you know of?”

“Garlic,” I say.

“You’re joking.”

“No, it’s true. It’s like a drug to them. Maybe it does to them what nauth does to us.”

“So do you…poison him?” he asks.

“It’s not like he eats. He drinks blood. My blood. If you want to poison his drink, you poison me too. Besides, it doesn’t matter because it’s too noticeable. If humans think garlic smells strong, vamps can smell it a mile away.”

James takes a sharp breath. “My parents have all these homeopathic remedies that are supposed to heal you on a spiritual level. They don’t always rely on traditional medicine—”

I clutch his arm. “What’s your point?”

“They use garlic essence, from the flower. It doesn’t have a smell. It’s still garlic; it’s just odorless.”

“I could mix it with my perfume or lotion.” I can see it happening. I put scentless garlic on my wrists, Jeremiah’s preferred bite site. While he’s under the influence of it, I get him to tell me where Micah is. I take his iron monarch pin and save the world from one more boogeyman. James can call the cops for a distraction. While that happens, I get Micah out of there. I put Micah and Alex on a train headed far away from here, and I start the lifelong process of making this up to James.

Right then and there, I realize how badly I want to live.

James hugs me. “Don’t cry.”

But it’s too late. I’m sobbing and shaking, but I feel numb at the same time, because all I can think about is what’s coming. The present has lost all meaning.

For just a moment, I’m living with James. Micah is alive and safe. Alex has a reason to be happy. I’m going to art school. I’m friends with his sister Ally and his best friend Shiloh.

I’m clean.

It’s beautiful.

It’s worth fighting for.

I raise my head off James’s chest. He tucks my hair behind my ear. The longer I stare into his eyes, the clearer my own reflection becomes. But I don’t see my tears, my inevitably red face, or my pale skin. In his eyes, I look steady. Maybe I look beautiful. I look alive.

But when he smiles, I
feel
alive.

“James…I…thank you. You’re the best friend I could have asked for.” It’s all I can say right now.

He just wraps his arms around me and holds me there.

“You’ve done so much for me,” he whispers. “More than I could have imagined.”

We stay like this for a while. We keep the world at bay for a little longer. Eventually, we realize how tired we are and crawl up to his room.

“You can have my bed,” he says.

“Come here,” I say and pull him down with me.

James

Some say the calm before a storm is unbearable.

They are wrong.

Bianca

When I wake up, I can see the sun streaming in through the blinds. Did we sleep in? I can’t believe it. It’s never been easy to sleep when I’m feeling the lack of nauth, but with James next to me, it seems like I could finally get a good night’s rest.

When I sit up, James is there with me.

“Garlic’s in the kitchen,” he says quietly.

“And your family?”

“Back in Jersey for the concert.”

We take a moment before getting up because getting up means we can’t ever go back. It means the night is definitely coming and so is Jeremiah.

This is it.

The beginning of the end.

Nothing will ever be the same after tonight.

“We can do this,” James says.

“We have to,” I say.

Our hands are linked together as we head downstairs and go into the kitchen. I sit down as he goes through the cabinets and pulls out small vials with handwritten labels. I pick up one and read it.
Chamomile: relieves emotional tension, irritability, and moodiness.

“Here we go,” he says and hands me a bottle.

Garlic: boosts energy, lessens fear, and relieves weakness from parasites.

I open it and take a sniff. I’ve never been so grateful not to smell something, but the thought of using it makes me sick to my stomach. Every little thing just reinforces that this is really happening.

“Thanks.” I stuff the bottle in my bag, which I hoist over my shoulder. I head to the front door, and James follows with heavy steps. When I open the door, he turns to stare at his empty house.

“I never said anything to Shiloh and Ally,” he says. “Nobody knows what’s about to happen except you and me.”

“You still have time—”

“I’m not leaving you,” he says. There’s fire in his eyes. “I’m going to stay there and watch for you.”

I take his hand, and in silence, we walk to the Night House. There is so much I can’t plan for tonight, it’s nauseating to think about it. People must see us as lost children, so unsure of what’s happening. When we reach Black Horse Alley on Front Street, I stop.

“This is far enough. You should go back home and wait for me there.”

“I’ll be with you,” he says. “I’ll be able to feel what’s happening. I’ll know if you need me. And I’ll know when Jeremiah’s gone. I’ll feel it happen. I’m always with you, just remember that.”

I squeeze his hand. “I’m with you too.”

“This isn’t goodbye,” he says, drawing me closer.

“Right.” I let his heat envelope me. “I’ll see you soon, then.”

“Real soon.”

I’m able to let go of him only because of my promise to come back.

The sun has set. I walk down the steps into the Night House.

James

I told her I wouldn’t do anything stupid. I’m supposed to go home and wait and watch. I’m not supposed to care about Finn or his empty words.

And yet, I can’t let this chance go by. Finn knows something about me. Now is my chance to find out what it is. So I sit down and take stock of the Night House.

It’s crawling with vamps. All the girls are locked away in their rooms. I can feel Bianca sitting at a table, putting makeup on her face. A numb sort of determination fills her. She isn’t really feeling anything; she’s just going through the motions. I envy her focus. I try to leave her behind and search for Finn. He’s on high alert standing in his office, talking with others, but I still can’t penetrate that brick wall he hides behind.

I’m trying to find a way in, to find a chip in his defenses, when I feel something much closer. When I open my eyes, someone is standing right in front of me.

Shit.

The vampire stalker.

Maybe he isn’t here to kill me. Maybe Bianca was right and Finn can be trusted. Maybe he’s going to help.

His smile is all fangs, “No loitering.”

His fist shoots out and everything fades.

Bianca

It takes me a few tries to open the small vial of garlic. I don’t know if it’s because I’m nervous about tonight or if it’s because it’s been two days since I last had nauth.

I take about half the garlic essence and pour it onto my wrists, then rub it all over my forearms. The rest of the garlic goes all over my neck. Next, I take the edible perfume that Finn specifically orders for us and dab it over my wrists and neck. Tonight I use vanilla, Alex’s favorite. I slip into the red dress Jeremiah got me. It gives the appearance that I’m dripping with blood.

There is a knock at the door. I turn to see Alex leaning against the doorframe.

“Pretty,” she says quietly.

“What are you doing up?”

She steps into the room and closes the door. “Finn told me to help you get ready. He said you might be too distracted to remember how to look good.” The smallest of smiles appears on her lips. “Vanilla?”

I nod.

“You’re a sweetie.”

I start to smile but it fades. “I’m scared.”

Alex comes up to me and runs her fingers through my hair, fixing it for me.

“You’re just a baby.”

A small, sad laugh bubbles up. “I don’t feel like one.”

She pulls me into a great big hug. “I’ll see you later tonight, okay?”

I can’t stand the thought of telling her that I might not. So I just hug her tighter.

James

I’m swimming in blackness. Voices fade in and out. My head is killing me. My hands and feet are bound.

I’ve never been this angry about being right. Finn can’t be trusted.

I mentally check my surroundings to see if I recognize Finn, but I can’t tell. I need to see where I am.

I’m in a dimly lit room, on a couch, with a fireplace to my right. This room is odd, like it was torn right out of the eighteen hundreds. I see a phonograph and a set of glass bottles filled with amber liquid. Finn stands with his hands behind his back, staring at me.

We are alone. I sit upright with some difficulty. The rope binding my hands behind my back is cutting into my wrists.

“I knew Bianca shouldn’t have trusted you.”

Finn lets out a small sigh and pulls up a chair across from me.

“You obviously care about Bianca. I wouldn’t have caught you if you didn’t. That means you have a lot of patience. It also makes you an idiot.”

Against my instincts, I stop searching for Bianca and lock onto Finn. It’s now or never. I need to get into his head.

He crosses one leg over the other and calmly adjusts his sleeves. It’s starting to piss me off.

“We are not so different, James.”

Before I can ask how he knows my name, he reaches into his pocket and produces my wallet. He tosses it onto the ground, by the fire.

“We are
nothing
alike,” I say.

“On the contrary. We both met an unstable girl with nothing to lose and, intending to help her, we also helped ourselves.”

I lean forward, teeth gritted. “You never wanted to help her.”

Finn leans closer. “If it weren’t for me, you would never have found her.”

“If you’re trying to get me to thank you, it’s not going to happen. You know you could have made her leave.”

“And then what?” Finn smiles at me, calm and reasonable. “She would have been useless out there on the streets. She would have sought out her escape in a much more dangerous place. At least in here, she served a purpose. And I could keep an eye on her.”

“Yeah, and you could get rich! And now you’re passing her off to a freak like Jeremiah without a second thought.”

“You have no idea of the politics of this situation.”

“What you really mean is that you have to throw innocent people under the bus to save yourself!”

“You’re absolutely right.” Finn stands and brushes off his jacket. “Though, let’s be honest. She’s not entirely innocent, is she?”

“So you’re just a coward after all.”

He stares at me with no emotion. “Call me what you want. It doesn’t change the fact that Bianca is going to this coronation. And you,
spawn
, are to be Jeremiah’s guest of honor.”

Bianca

It’s almost eleven-thirty. Time to go.

I follow one of Finn’s guys out of the Night House, and we stand on the sidewalk on Front Street. I know the river is in the distance, but the highway blocks my view. I cross my arms. Tap my feet on the ground. Rub my wrists. Finn’s guy has a smirk on his face. Jeremiah must be making me wait on purpose. He knows what it does to me.

Admitting that I’m an addict does nothing to change the fact that I
am
an addict. Because we vamp tramps know one thing most of all: nauth speaks much louder than words.

Headlights blind me, and I raise my hand to cover my face. It has to be him. A limousine parks in front of us. A vamp gets out and opens the door for me. He smiles pleasantly, but his eyes are on my neck.

“The Monarch is waiting for you.”

And I’m waiting for him.

I step inside the darkened car and take a seat. After a moment of getting used to the lack of lights, my vision settles on Jeremiah. He stares wistfully out the window. I hate the brief moment of shock I
still
get from how beautiful he is. His cruelty is far more memorable. Now he resembles a reluctant king about to greet his people for the first time. His hand rests delicately against the window, like he wishes he were out there instead of here, alone with me.

I see the pin on his breast pocket.

I could do it now. I could just lunge at him and jab that stupid pin right into his heartless chest. I grip the seat so hard my hands ache.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Jeremiah says in a quiet voice. “You’re trying to find a way out. I’m not surprised. Vampires have outgrown the willingness to end their own life that humans seem to possess. But that won’t work for you.”

Now his hand is under my chin, lifting my head up. His stained-glass eyes shine. “I know your story. You wanted to be saved from the pain of losing your family. You wanted to stop feeling. Finn saved you from that fate. And now, I will save you from the Night House.”

“I could have saved myself,” I say through clenched teeth.

His gentle touch becomes a painful grip on my jaw. “No, you couldn’t. You can’t do anything by yourself. You’re human, Bianca. Human
means
flawed. There is so much wrong with you. But I will make you useful.”

He releases me and settles back into his position, staring out the window. I realize that the car is still parked in front of the Night House.

“You will have a life with me, Bianca. The St. Germains will reemerge under my guidance, and you will assist me in becoming the most powerful vampire in the country. Perhaps the world. That reality is worth more than one miserable, fangless vampire’s life.”

My heart skips a beat at the mention of Micah. I can’t stop myself as I ask: “Is he okay?”

Jeremiah doesn’t bother to look at me as he slaps me across the face.

I collapse against the seat of the car. My face stings so bad, like he cut me. Tears well in my eyes.

“Don’t cry. It’s so ugly.”

I hold my breath to try to take back the incredible pain. He might hurt me, but I know Jeremiah won’t kill me. He needs me. That’s what gives me the strength to speak again. “You’re not saving me, Jeremiah. You’re enslaving me.”

He leans forward and places his finger on my lips. “It does not matter how you see me.” There is every kind of hunger in his eyes and he’s so beautiful, but this is all so ugly. Then he smiles. “You’re mine now.”