Vampire Secrets: Book 2 (Blood and Snow Season Two) (16 page)

Troy
examined my face, probably checking for the truthfulness of my words. I knew what he would find. My heart, where it’d once rested with Laeddin was firmly planted. It knew where I belonged. And that was with Troy.

“
I’ll be right behind you.”

I nodde
d and ran barefoot up the steps.

Chapter 12

I found Laeddin on the upper deck, staring out at the dark water. “Sorry about that,” I said, coming to stand next to him. It wasn’t that I was sorry about kissing Troy. Only sorry Laeddin had been put in an uncomfortable situation.

He shrugged, running a hand through his hair. “It is
n’t your fault. I didn’t think; I just came.”

Laeddin was wearing the same clothes he’d left in more than a week ago. He looked haggard, his face scruffy, and his dark hair mussed.

I touched his arm
. “What did you want?”

Urgency
returned to his face. “There’s an artifact, a crown. It’s made of fairy magic and the branches of their sacred komoni tree.”

“Ko-mon-e
?

“
Right. It’s a tree that grows in their realm.” He didn’t look at me but stared out at the ocean.

“
What’s so special about it?”

“It’s special because t
here’s only one and the fairy folk consider it their deity. They believe all fairy life comes from it and when a fairy dies it is returned to the tree. Its roots are said to connect everything within the realm. Without the tree their realm would die as would all the fairy folk.”

“Okay, so what does this crown do?”

“It’s said to possess the same power as the tree.”

“So it… creates life? I don’t understand.” I rested my hands on the rail.

“And takes life.”

“Okay.”

Laeddin went on, “The story goes that five thousand years ago, the seven kings of the fairy realm started a war against each other. The reason was that each believed their kingdom should have guards protecting the komoni tree. Before and during the war only the high king’s guards protected the tree and the other six heard rumors that the high king was secretly using the power of the tree for his personal gain. They thought the high king was the richest and most powerful because he took the power of the tree and harnessed it for his own selfish desires.”

“Was he?” I asked.

“I don’t know. The story didn’t say. But after decades of fighting, the high king finally agreed to share protection of the tree. By then the other kingdoms weren’t satisfied with that though. They each wanted to be allowed to take possession of the tree for a period of fifty years.

“After several more years of discussion the high king came up with a plan. They would have the most powerful sorceres
s from each of the kingdoms come together to create a crown. Each king would be allowed to wear the crown for fifty years and during that time that king would be in charge of the tree’s protection and privy to whatever power he could harness.”

“I think I know where this
is going.” I sighed. It seemed power was at the root of all war. A person or a country believed they should have all of it and that everyone should be subjected to it.

“Maybe not.” Laeddin
shook his head. “The crown was created. The high king was given the right to it for the first fifty years and then he passed it on to the next king, and the king after that, until finally the seventh king received the crown.

“He’d had three hundred years to debate what he would do when given the crown. He spoke with his sorceress, tortured those he captured from the other kingdoms until he gained a full understanding of the power of the crown. And as soon as the crown was placed on his head, he began creating. But it wasn’t treasures like gold or s
ilver or gems. He formed more fairies. They all swore allegiance to him because if they didn’t then he used the crown to destroy them. When his fifty years were up, he had an army of three million fairy warriors.

“Instead of returning the crown to the high king, he sent his three million warriors into the high king’s land and had everyone in the kingdom killed. Then
he took possession of the dead king’s land for himself.

“When the other kings heard what he’d done they realized the crown was too much power for any one person. After much discussion they sent five assassins after the crown and the king. The plan was to kill the king and destroy the crown by
giving it back to the tree. They slew the king and took the crown to the tree. But the tree rejected it. Instead the tree ripped the crown into five pieces.

The assassins didn’t want to take the fragments back to their kings so they
each decided to take their piece and hide it, agreeing they wouldn’t tell the others where they were going or where their piece was hidden. They also agreed to tell the kings the crown had been destroyed.

“Over the centuries
though stories of the crown’s existence began to surface. Folktales popped up saying that even just having part of the crown gave the owner great power. I checked human histories too.” He snapped his fingers and a hologram of a crown appeared directly in front of us.

“Impressive,” I said, gripping the railing more tightly.

He smiled. “This is what the fairies believe the crown looks like.”

It was white with bright red berry-looking things randomly placed around it. Simple. Unassuming. It certainly didn’t look like it possessed any kind of power.

But I was confused. “It’s in pieces, right?”

“Yes
. And, look.” A picture of Octavian Augustus, the first roman emperor appeared. Laeddin pointed to something on his robe. “It’s a piece of the crown.

I peered closer. “It’s possible.”

Another person appeared. Laeddin pointed to what looked like a piece of the crown. “Look.”

Another appeared. And another. And another. He showed more than twenty photos of men and women with what looked like the same piece of crown attached somewhere on their person.

I had to agree the thing he’d pointed out, whatever it was, did look the same in every picture.

“So a piec
e was hidden in the human realm? Or not so hidden since it seems lots of people have taken possession of it over the years.”

“Right.” He sent the hologram back into the ether where it came from.

“Okay, but…” I shook my head. “Even if we find all the pieces, h
ow can the crown stop Maleficent?”

He flinched
, perhaps taken aback that I didn’t understand. “The wearer of the crown can create and destroy life. If you wore the crown, you would have the same power.”

“
I’ll use it to destroy Maleficent.” I nodded my agreement.

He took my hand
s. “You were created by the power of all seven magics. And even though you don’t have your wings, your DNA holds that magic. Plus you are an Original Vampire. If you possessed the crown, you wouldn’t just use it to destroy, but to create more vampires. Just. Like. You.”

The gravity of what he said pressed heavily again
st my chest. More vampires, with wings and powers, like I’d had. I wouldn’t be alone. There would be others. I pressed my hands against my head. The prospect was terrifying and exciting.

He took hold of my shoulders. “
Alone you may be no match for Maleficent, but think if there were dozens or hundreds like you she wouldn’t stand a chance. Her power is strong, but not that strong. Not even close.”

I nodded, feeling a little sick inside. “How
do we find the pieces?”

“Are you out of your
freaking mind?” Troy stood at the top of the stairs. I didn’t know how much of the story he’d heard but I guessed by the furiousness on his face, that it was most if not all of it.

“What? It seems like a good plan,” I said moving over to him.
“I can use the crown to destroy Maleficent and create more vampires like me.

“Got any better ideas?”
Laeddin growled out.

“It sure as hell isn’t giving Jack a crown so that she can create more
Original Vampires. That’s nuts.” Troy was breathing heavily.

I stared
, not sure I’d heard him correctly. Not sure I understood what he was saying. Because I thought he liked me for who and what I was. Hell, he’d offered his blood on several occasions.

“Why? What are you saying, Troy?
” I tried to keep calm, but my body was reacting to the thoughts running through my mind.

He thinks you’re a
freak too.

He thinks you’re a
freak too.

He thinks you’re a
freak too.

“
You think I’m a freak.” The statement was like a knife jabbed inside my heart.

“No. No. That’s not it at all,” he said, backpedaling. “It’s just… you remember the stories of Silindra and Sharra. Life w
asn’t great for humans when the Originals ruled the Earth.”

The knife twisted, cutting and slicing my heart into bright red ribbons.

“I—You…” I clamped my mouth shut and turned to Laeddin. “Can you get me out of here?”

“With pleasure
.” Laeddin took hold of my arms.

***

When Laeddin let go we were back at my house. Upstairs in my room. Sabrina was asleep on my bed; her tiny body curled up, her hands tucked under her face.

My phone beeped. A swift glance
informed it was a text from Troy. I didn’t even read the words before I sent back my reply.

Just leave me alone, Troy. I don’t want to talk to you right now.
There was nothing he could say or do that would make up for his hurtful words.

Sorry,
he texted back.

Laeddin immediately began to pace.

“What is it?” I asked, trying not to think about Troy and my broken heart.

“I
know where to find the first piece.”

“You do
?” I stood in front of him, making him stop.

“
It’s in Connecticut.” His eyes seemed far away.

“That’s
an odd place to hide a fairy relic.”

He shrugged. “
True. But there’s a rock house in Guilford, Connecticut that was built in 1639 by Henry Whitfield—”

“I’ve heard about the house.” My aunt Cindy mentioned it during our conversations about how witches came to the human realm.

“Did you know that there are tunnels beneath the house? And within one of the tunnels a piece of the crown is buried.”

“
How did you find out?”

He glared and I took a step back. “What do you think I’ve been doing the past two weeks?”

“I—”

“While you’ve been playing house with Troy I’ve been trying to figure out a way to save you, to save everyone.” Laeddin pushed past and sat on the window seat. He seemed exhausted. “If I say it’s there, by Allah, it’s there.”

“Fine,” I said through gritted teeth. “Shall I wish us there?”

“No. He shook his head. “We have to find five pieces. And we have to hope we can still capture one of the Akuma. The only way to do that is with a wi
sh. You need to save them.”

“W
hen do you want to leave?” I carefully sat on my bed.

“First thing tomorrow morni
ng.” Laeddin walked out of my room.

Moments after he left, Christopher showed up. “Busy night,” he said.

“Hey Chris.” I rested my chin in my hands. Spending time with the Hunter was easy.

He sat, putting an arm around my shoulders. “You’re hungry.”

“Yeah, I am. Starving, actually.”

Today h
e wore a green long sleeved button down shirt and a tan pair of slacks and his blond hair was longer than I’d ever seen it. He kept flipping it out of his eyes. They weren’t red at the moment. They were hooded and... “Are you hungry?” I asked casually, not really thinking about it.

Christopher scooted closer.
“Are you offering, Jasmine?” His fangs grew, scraping his bottom lip.

Was I? “Sure,” I said. What would it hurt?

“Oh, Jasmine.” He came forward, his focus on my neck.

I tilted my head to the side, moving my hair out of the way with my hand. His hands tenderly gripped my arms and he sank his fangs into my neck. I immediately gasped as a
bolt of sexual desire shot through my body. I fell back on the bed, taking Chris with me. He adjusted himself so that he wasn’t squishing my body. My hands roamed his chest and I unbuttoned his shirt, pushing it off. Christopher helped, without moving his fangs from my throat.

After several minutes,
he removed his mouth from my neck. His eyes roamed my face. A drop of my blood stained one side of his mouth. “Feel better?” I whispered.