The Tragedy of Knowledge (3 page)

“Um, no. It’s good.” I shrugged. “Have Aud taste it. She’s the human chef in the house.”

Gavin glanced at her as she weaved around us, moving from one hall table to the next, dusting the wood a little too vigorously, fixated on one spot. “She’s been a bit preoccupied lately.” He cleared his throat, waiting for her to look over at us.

Nothing. Not even an absent-minded acknowledgment.

“That’s it.” I tossed the journal onto the table she was cleaning. The loud thud made her jump, finally stirring her from her obsessive cleaning frenzy. “We need a family meeting, Aud. We have to talk about this, because you all are driving me crazy. We’re on a vampire conjure king’s shit list, and he’s in town. Right here, right now. Up close and personal. Stop your damn cleaning … and cooking,” I eyed Gavin, “and music blasting!” Gabe couldn’t hear me from outside, but it felt good to include his avoidance strategy in my outburst.

Audrey crossed her arms across her chest and cocked a brow. “Well, someone’s edgy. Gav, take her out to the bayou for your crazy monkey sex or something.”

It was I who cocked a brow next. “Crazy monkey sex? We’re vampires, not primitive apes. And how do you know we go to the bayou?”

“
Please
. You guys always sneak out to the same spot, giggling like hormonal idiots. Hey, I’m not complaining. When you do it in the house, Gabe and I have to hear everything. These wood floors and old walls are way too creaky for your escapades. I’m thankful you take it outside.” She shrugged. “But you seriously need to do something about that attitude.”

“I’m not the only one with an
attitude
around here.” I lowered my gaze to her smartass stance. She shifted a bit, unfolding her arms.

“Okay, ladies. Tone it down a notch.” Gavin stepped between us with a barely contained grin, the saucepan and spoon still in hand.

Audrey snatched the spoon from him. “Ugh. God, Gav, what, are you trying to kill us? Death by oregano? Give me that stuff. I’ve managed to rejoin the land of the living again, and I’d like to keep it that way,
thank you very much
.” She yanked the pan away from him and charged past us toward the kitchen. Times like this, when she was her feistiest, I ashamedly entertained the idea of what life would be like had we left her in Amaranth. Gabe had turned her into a frozen soul early in their relationship, so she could enter exile with him and help carry out Gavin’s plan to destroy Samira. Much to my amusement, it did nothing to water down her firecracker persona even now, after she’d returned to human form.

Gabe opened the front door with a loud huff as he pulled the iPod earbuds from his ears. Hearing the door slam, Audrey stopped when she reached the kitchen doorway and poked her head past the frame to point the wooden spoon at Gabe. “Get out of those clothes and into the shower.”

“All right, now we’re talking!” He gave her a goofy, eager grin.

Audrey handed the spoon to Gavin. “I mean it, Gabriel. You’re all sweaty, and you’re dripping all over my clean floors. Move it!”

His grin faded and he glanced down at his sneakers.

Gavin clapped him on the back and chuckled under his breath. “It’s a madhouse in here, man. Come on, we’ll grab you a beer. And I made you guys my chicken parmesan. Here, try this sauce.” He shoved the spoon to Gabe’s mouth—a little too forcefully—and with a mischievous laugh, turned on his heel for the kitchen. Gabe licked his lips and smacked Gavin on the back of the head with the spoon as he trailed behind, and I threw my hands up in the air, ready to strangle them all for their total disregard for our big, fat vampire-king problem.

We finally sat down to dinner, Gabe and Audrey chowing down, Gavin and me sipping our red, slushy nutrition.

“We aren’t even sure it’s Gérard who killed Vivienne,” Audrey said, twirling spaghetti strands around her fork.

Gavin finished off his drink. “It’s him. The record that was playing was an original conjure, and he’s as original as they get. The date, and the initials on the record sleeve … it was all him.”

“If it’s anyone who knows him, it’s Gavin,” I said. “His dad and Gérard were BFFs back in the day, right, Gav?” I looked over at him, thrilled we were finally talking about this. Past time. I restrained myself from detailing why to the group, though it was difficult not to remind them it had already been three weeks since Vivienne was killed, and we couldn’t hide out at Gavin’s place forever. It was a miracle this conjure creep hadn’t come for us yet. Besides, the next crescent moon was almost due, which meant it was time to act. And we’d be idiots if we acted without a plan.

“Well, it was my dad who knew Gérard,” Gavin said. “I remember seeing him around the house every now and then, but I always stayed away because he creeped me out, even before my father began to mention the need to be cautious around him. Said he’d changed.”

Gavin refilled his glass, and I could see his mind working, struggling with something. At last he said, “It’s Arianna we need to talk to, but even she only knows him so well. Gérard brought her to live with my family when she was eighteen. But then she lived with Joel in London for a while, and then went back to Amaranth until the uprising. When she came back to earth again … human again from the uprising … her father couldn’t be found. No real surprise: Most frozen souls haven’t seen him in centuries. So, she knows him as he was before she lost touch with him, but that’s about it.”

“So none of us really know what we’re dealing with,” Audrey said.

Gavin’s expression turned grim. “I think the fact that he left Vivienne dead shows us what we’re dealing with.”

“So the question is, why hasn’t he come to kill us all off yet?” Standing, Audrey started working her way around the table, clearing dishes and glasses as she went. “And why did he hunt Vivienne down in the first place?”

“To send us a message,” Gavin replied, handing her his glass. “A warning. If he wanted to kill us, he would’ve. He went to Vivienne because he found out something was going on in Amaranth, that she was helping the resistance somehow. That’s the only explanation. And Amaranth’s portal is here. It’s a hotspot for conjure activity. He knew to head straight to one of the original conjurers in town for answers.” Brushing a hand over his jaw, he exhaled loudly. “This whole time, all these years, the resistance was sure that bringing Samira’s kingdom down, draining Gérard’s power source, would be enough to destroy them both, enough to lift the curse. He practically dropped off the face of the earth, and now he’s here, and we can’t destroy
her
without taking him out.
Unbelievable
.”

Standing, he sauntered over to the buffet table and grabbed a box stuffed full of loose papers. “Anyway, this is all we have from Vivienne’s shop, all Camille and I could grab before we got out of there. We’ve been trying to piece things together since we got back, but most of the handwriting is illegible. She was on to something, but I still don’t know what.” He threaded his fingers through the box’s contents, then set the box down and returned to his seat. “As soon as Arianna returns from London with Marie, we’ll sit down and come up with a new plan. I’ve been training Camille with the knives, and I’ve told the resistance to use this time to prepare as best they can for whatever we face when we meet Gérard.”

“And in the meantime?” Audrey’s voice grew quieter, more uncertain.

“In the meantime …” He nodded to the box. “We keep trying to make sense of these remains, and hope like hell he doesn’t show up before the portal opens.”

Gabe shifted in his seat and reached for Audrey’s hand. “I know it’s not the most comforting thing to hear, babe. But Gav’s right. If he wanted us dead, he would’ve come for us by now. Maybe he sees us as a legitimate threat.”

“Either that, or we have something he wants,” I said, the words escaping my lips before I had a chance to think about them.

“Maybe.” Gavin eyed me curiously. “I’m not sure what we could have that would motivate him to keep us alive, though. Either way, it won’t be long now. Arianna will be back from London tomorrow, and it’ll be time to go back.”

Time to go back.
That thought silenced all four of us. The quiet bore down around us in the dining room, the grandfather clock permeating it with a tired, taunting ticking. Discussing what to do about Gérard was only half the problem. There was still the issue of Scarlet, Gavin’s ex, who had ratted us out to Samira while we were in Amaranth—and who was now on the loose, God knows where. Her jealous treachery had nearly gotten us killed before.

Added to that, our agreement with Samira was far from comforting. She still had Gavin’s mother held hostage back in Amaranth, and for all we knew, she could flip a switch on the agreement and turn her back on us, or worse, send a message to Gérard to take us out. Or worse still, take Gavin’s mother’s life for real this time.

These possibilities hung in the air like thick smoke, and the need to run flooded me with urgency. Rising to my feet, I darted out of the dining room and out of the house, sprinting across the oak tree-lined driveway and into the night, hoping Gavin wouldn’t follow. I needed the quiet, needed to think. And there were those pesky daydreams to mull over, the ones that caused me to black out like I was sleepwalking. They began right after I’d changed and were getting more frequent, more inexplicably terrifying. All I could see as I replayed the scenes in my mind was Gavin’s mother’s room. The indentation of my crescent moon necklace on the bed’s pillow. The skeleton key that unlocked her door. That dream meant something, it must!

Instinctively, I clutched the necklace tight in my hand as I ran deep into the bayou and let it enfold me in its darkness.

2

FIRESTARTER

“So … how was it?” It sounded like the stupid question it was, but I didn’t know what else to say.

“It was okay.” Arianna shrugged petulantly, sliding a box of Joel’s belongings onto the kitchen counter. She’d gone with Marie, Joel’s mother, to his old apartment in London, hoping to salvage some of her memories with him so she could move on. Marie stood next to her, hands folded in front, a wary expression that defined the wrinkles on her face. Marie left Amaranth with us and the rest of the resistance, still marked and owned by Samira, but given permission to exit Amaranth with us to help prepare for our attack on Gérard. Samira wasn’t happy about Marie leaving, but Arianna insisted, and so she complied.

“Did you get everything you wanted?” I said.

Another shrug. “I guess. I found an old photo album of us. And some records I gave him on his birthday.” She pulled the album from the box and stared at the cover, a single tear spilling onto her cheek. My heart constricted at the sight, and then my eyes widened in surprise when Marie reached over a hesitant hand to stiffly rub Arianna’s back. Arianna’s sobs deepened at the contact, her face falling into her hands. Marie moved closer to shush her, tears of her own spilling over her eyelids.

I reached out and gently squeezed both their shoulders, my voice quiet. “I don’t know how. But we’re going to make this right. We’ll end this.”

“How can we ever make this right?” Arianna’s voice cracked through her sobs. “His death will never be right. There will never be any justice. The odds against us are stacked so high, I don’t see how …”

“There, there, child,” Marie whispered, sending me a worried glance. “Your spirit is broken right now. But not lost. There’s no room for giving up hope, do you hear me? He was my son. Can you imagine the depths of my sorrow over his loss? The pain it brings me to know I’ve been a slave to your mother, the one who is responsible for the loss?”

Arianna turned to face her, her long golden curls brushing against Marie’s shoulder. “And do you know what that knowledge does to me? It’s devastated me, Marie. My mother, a monster, took him from you. From me. She made you pay for his freedom, for his visitations … not to mention that this all began with my father. I can’t possibly put into words how sorry I am. I feel responsible, I feel—”

“No.” Marie took Audrey’s chin between her fingers. “You are not responsible for what your mother’s done, or your father for that matter. You never were and never will be. You gave my son happiness, a life! He adored you. I was wrong that day … the day at the gates, when he came to see you. I never should have gotten involved. It was all just too much for me to bear. To watch you two fight, to see what my son had lost when you returned to Amaranth. I couldn’t see how your relationship would ever work with so much against you like that, and I didn’t want my son to continue torturing himself over his decision to stay on earth, to remain a frozen soul.”

Arianna and Marie stared at one another, a bittersweet silence passing between them: Arianna’s head bowed, hand cradling her chin; Marie’s knowing eyes brimmed with tears, her grip on Arianna’s shoulder gentle. It was heartbreaking to see, yet a relief to see them come to an understanding. Marie might have been a monster, one that tried to capture me and return me to Samira not long ago, but seeing her maternal side, her love for her son and her desire to make peace with Arianna, made me reconsider my early opinion about her heart. Her position as Samira’s slave all these years, and what it must have meant for her. I instantly added her to my mental list of those I wanted to protect, to fight for in this war against Gérard and Samira. To the death.

“I’ll give you guys a minute,” I said, my voice still quiet. They turned to me, expressions solemn, eyes tired. “I’m going to go see what the guys are up to.” With a wry grin, I exited the kitchen in search of Gavin and Gabe. Audrey was out running errands, so it was just the boys and me while Marie and Arianna had their moment.