Timeless (5 page)

"Yes, honestly," Nina replied, warming to the lie, imagining the life of a trapeze artist in a travelling circus. She would have been so good at it, she thought, until she tired of it.

"Oh, do you have any luggage?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact I do," Nina said, pointing up to the roof. "Should I climb back up and get it?"

"Absolutely not," Alexandria shot back. "I don't think I could survive another stunt like that. And just for future reference, the roof is off limits."

"I can't promise you that," Nina mumbled under her breath.

"Pardon?" Alexandria said. "I didn't quite catch that."

"No more roof," Nina said jovially, her fingers crossed behind her back.

"I'll get the suitcase."

Alexandria spun around, her mouth popping open when she saw Bran. He wore a crumpled white shirt, which looked like he'd just stolen it off someone's clothesline, although it did not prevent him from looking devilishly handsome. Why did he have to look so handsome? Alexandria's heart did a double flip in her chest, then she scowled at him, burying a fresh wave of pain before it had time to take root in her heart.

"Hello, Bran," Nina said, twirling around dramatically and adding a curtsy for effect, her skirt sweeping the ground at her feet. "Please don't forget my parasol while you are up there. I don't quite know what I would do without it."

Alexandria looked from Bran to Nina, then back at Bran accusingly. "You two know each other? Never mind. Don't answer that. I don't care, and it really isn't any of my business. Just leave the suitcase on the doorstep when you are done fetching it."

"And the parasol," Nina injected, waltzing over to the front door.

"Alexandria, it isn't what you think. None of this is what you think. I need to explain—"

"Yes, you do. But I don't need to listen, even if I was interested, which I'm not, by the way, so go away ... after you get the suitcase." She turned her back on him, her head held high, and walked into the house. "Come in, Nina," she said, "and I'll show you to your room." Nina smiled sheepishly at Bran from beneath her long eyelashes, and waved.

Bran followed them to the door. "Alexandria, I—"

"I don't want to talk to you, Bran. You can't come in," she said, closing the door in his face.

"You're right about that," Nina said jovially, looking around the room, the red rose still in her hand.

"Right about what?" Alexandria asked.

"He can't come in. At least, not until you invite him in. Manners and all that," Nina added as an afterthought. "Your friend, however, the one that doesn't fare well in the sunlight, he may still want to come in, though."

"Oh, yes," she said, hurrying back to the front door and opening it. "I'm sorry, Andrew. Come in."

Andrew appeared beside her within seconds, holding out his hand to Nina. "Andrew," he said, introducing himself.

Nina placed her delicate hand in his palm. "Charmed," she said, quickly withdrawing her hand and handing him the rose. "Would you do a girl a kindness and find a vase for my rose?" she asked shyly, throwing in an anorexic smile.

Andrew stared at her, a blank expression on his face.

Nina stared back at him wearily. "Not to worry. I can find one for myself, if you'd just point me toward the kitchen..."

Alexandria frowned at Andrew and gave him a nudge in his ribs. "Andrew, you're being rude."

"You're dead," he blurted, continuing to stare at Nina.

"Andrew," Alexandria said. "Don't be ridiculous." She looked at Nina. "I'm sorry, he—"

"I've been touched by death enough to know what dead feels like," Andrew said adamantly.

Nina sighed. "Okay, fine. I'm dead. Are you really going to hold that against a paying customer? Some of the nicest people I know are dead. And who are you to throw stones?" she asked Andrew. "From what I can tell, you're not far from death's door yourself."

"Mine's a curse. What's your excuse?" Andrew asked, his eyes still fixed on her.

"She's a vampire," Alexandria said, looking at Nina accusingly. "That's the real reason you weren't afraid to jump off the roof. You're already dead."

Andrew snorted. "She can't be. She's wearing a crucifix."

Nina laughed. "And I suppose you think hanging garlic around the place will have me fleeing from the room like a scared rat? Try not to believe everything you read in story books, dear Andrew."

Andrew glared at her but said nothing.

Sighing, as though thoroughly bored with the conversation, Nina raised her hand and waved it delicately through the air. "Well, now that we have all the mundane pleasantries out of the way ... which way to my room, hmm?"

"You're going to let her stay here?" Andrew asked in disbelief, dragging his eyes away from Nina to look at Alexandria.

"She's a paying customer, Andrew. I need the money, and besides, if we were in any danger, the house would never have let her in. Invitation or no invitation. The house locked Raymond and Vera out, remember."

He returned his gaze to Nina. "Yes, but not before they stripped it of its most valuable pieces."

Alexandria shook her head. "No, they didn't. They tried, but they never found what they were really looking for." She turned her head to look at their guest. "And Nina isn't going to hurt us, or steal from us, are you?" she said sternly, as though speaking to an insolent child.

"What am I going to steal?" Nina drawled sarcastically, running her finger along an empty sideboard covered in dust that had once been filled with intricate china. "Dust motes, and cobwebs?"

Alexandria's hand shot to her mouth. "Oh. Andrew," she gasped, "I'm so sorry, with everything that's been going on, I forgot to go to the store for you. I should probably pick up something to cook for dinner while I'm out, as well." She turned to Nina, who was busy scrutinizing the rest of the furniture. "What do you like to eat, Nina?"

"Kittens," Nina replied straight-faced, flopping down on one of the oversized lounge chairs.

Alexandria and Andrew looked at her in horror.

"You two really ought to invest in a sense of
humor
. As if I'd eat kittens! They give me fur balls, not to mention that they are as fattening as chocolate. A girl has to look after her figure, after all," she said, burying her nose in the rose. "Anyway, I prefer to drink my meals, if it's all the same to you."

Neither Alexandria's nor Andrew's expressions looked like they were about to change any time soon.

Nina sighed again, peering out beneath her long, black lashes. "There is a forest out there
teeming
with wildlife, but don't fret, I won't eat anything endangered, cute or fluffy."

Chapter 4 – Clans.

After filling out some paperwork, Andrew had reluctantly escorted Nina, along with her black, worn-out leather suitcase and black lace parasol, to her room. As directed, Bran had left the possessions on the doorstep of Witchwood Estate, and had departed as silently as he had arrived.

"I still think it's a bad idea," Andrew said, as he paced back and forth in the small sitting room that Alexandria was using as a makeshift office.

"I think we need her," Alexandria said, closing the guest sign in book and placing it in the top drawer of her father's old writing desk.

"Look, if it's about the money—"

"It's not the money," Alexandria said, lowering her voice. "Do you think it is true that vampires have heightened hearing?"

Andrew continued to pace around the room, rubbing his chin, shaking his head. "How would I know? I mean, I know they exist, I've just never met one before. All I know is that there are lots of them still out there that, like, you know, drink human blood. And if they bite you, well, we all know how that ends. Frankly, I tend not to trust anyone who doesn’t have a pulse. How old do you think she is, by the way?"

"Will you please sit down? You are making me dizzy pacing back and forth like that. And I don't know how old she is. I thought it would be rude to ask. I was only little at the time," Alexandria said in a conspiratorial voice, "but I can remember my mom talking to my father once about a friend that was a vampire, which I thought was just some kind of joke at the time, but when Nina told me her name was Rosenberg, it rang a bell and got me thinking.

Andrew pulled up a chair and rested his elbows on the table. "Go on," he said, resting his chin in his hands, enthralled in the story.

Alexandria continued. "So, while you were taking Nina upstairs, I had a look in one of my mother's books. Not the one full of spells, another one." She took from around her neck a chain with a little key dangling from it. She leaned down and opened the desk’s deep bottom drawer and pulled out a book wrapped in a piece of red velvet. "It's one of my mother's journals. I found it hidden in her room, concealed inside another book titled Candles For Casting by M. Harvey."

"M. Harvey, whoever that is, must be related to you."

"Could be. They appear to be coming out of the woodwork these days, relatives. Anyway, I've been reading Mom's journal at night." She turned the pages until she came to a page with the words Saken Circle across the top in her mother's handwriting. Drawn on the page was a pentagram with a letter representing each of the five vertices. S, A, K, E, N. Below the pentagram were the words, Harvey,
Lochlanach
, Rivenfell, Rosenberg. Alexandria tapped the page. "These names here, they're clan names, and, according to what my mother wrote, you need five witches from any of these four clans to form a Saken Circle." She looked up at Andrew, her green eyes sparkling like emeralds. "My bet is Nina was a Rosenberg witch before she became a vampire."

"So the letters spell Saken. What's a Saken Circle? And do you think she can still be counted as a witch if she's a vampire?"

"I don't see why not. And a Saken Circle, according to what's written here, is a very powerful circle. I think, once you bring these five witches together, the Saken Circle is complete. Just think, Andrew, if it really is as powerful as it says it is, it could help us find Eden."

Andrew's eyes grew wide in anticipation, and he sat bolt upright in his chair, a tuft of hair falling across his eyes. He pushed it back urgently. "Do you really think so? You think there's a chance?"

Alexandria nodded. "I also think that each letter represents a person. What if the A stands for me, the K for Kat, and the—"

"N for Nina," Andrew finished with growing enthusiasm.

"Exactly."

Andrew's expression changed from optimistic to wary. "I just don't know. This was written years ago by your mother, before you were even born. How could she possibly know who was going to be around today to form this circle?"

"I'm not sure, but I have a hunch. I think this book might be the reason why my parents were murdered. I think this is what Raymond and Vera were searching for before the house figured out what they were up to and locked them out. I
think whoever put them up to searching for this book is trying to make sure the circle is never completed. Or perhaps they wanted to know the names of the witches that would form this Saken Circle. Perhaps the five witches are all in danger. No witches, no Saken Circle."

"But from whom?" Andrew asked.

"From another clan. A dark clan." She tapped a word at the bottom of the page,
Bloodthorn, and read out a description. "Named after a poisonous flower, they are darkest of all the clans, the Bloodthorn witches are famous for the use of dark magic, forbidden practices, and the ability to do evil."

"Crap. You think that is maybe why you were sent away after your parents died?"

"Murdered," Alexandria corrected. "And yes. Maybe? I'm not sure yet."

Andrew digested that for a moment. "Well, we should try to find these five witches and warn them before it's too late."

"If I'm correct, we only have to find two witches."

"Okay then. So if you are correct, and I'm not saying you are, there is you and Kat from the Harvey Clan," his eyes turned upward reluctantly, "and Nina from the Rosenberg
Clan, if vamps are still regarded as being witches. We're still missing two clans."