Wake of Darkness (22 page)

            She clawed at the invisible force around her
neck, gasping in shock. Her nails tore at the noose that was not there, the one
that cut off the air and burned her throat. The skin peeled back like a ripe
orange, and black blood spilled from the gashes until she was kneeling in a
pool of her own putrid fluids. What little dead light exists in a vampire's
eyes was extinguished with her last breath.

            And the room was silent.

            “That,” said Cusick, “that is what the new one
is capable of. Let that be a lesson to you all.” He turned to Jacques who had
composed himself and seemed possessed with a fire of hatred. “Take care that
you do not meet the same fate at their hands.”

            “I will have vengeance at their death,” Jacques
vowed.

            “Take care of it. If not...” Cusick's eyes
narrowed “You will have more problems than you can possibly imagine. And I can
promise that you will not like the outcome, if you live through it.”

Chapter 20

Present Day—Texas

Dante opened the door before they
could reach it and Alexander stood just behind him. The rest of the family was
perched strategically on the staircase between the new arrivals and Catherina, who
waited on the landing above them. Sophie sank down to sit on the stairs, still
in view of the front door.

Celia arrived at the door first. She
was tall, thin, dressed in a form-fitting black long-sleeved shirt and tight
jeans. She wore combat boots, black sunglasses and her slightly curled blonde
hair cascaded to the middle of her back. She exuded confidence. She looked like
she could conquer the world.

            I’d like to look like her,
Sophie thought
reflexively.

You do,
Alexander thought
back.

Sophie’s eyes flashed to him and
she smiled.

Celia slowly removed her
sunglasses, taking her time not to make any sudden movements as they all waited
in anticipation.

“You must be Dante,” she said in
her perfectly husky voice. Her eyes glanced from him to Alexander and rested
there. “It’s been a while.” Her lips curled into a smile.

“Indeed,” he replied stiffly.

            Celia smirked and then turned back to Dante.

Dante stepped to the side. “Please
come in. We have been expecting you.”  

The trio flowed into the entryway.
Sophie held her breath, watching and waiting. Masumi and Chaz looked around the
room defensively, surveying the faces of the others, the house, everything.
Celia’s eyes settled on Sophie’s, unblinking. Sophie didn’t look away.

“Would you please be seated?” Dante
asked.

“Of course,” Celia replied, her
eyes never leaving Sophie’s. “Thank you.” Her stare did not release Sophie
until Masumi gently touched the back of her arm. The connection was instantly
broken and Celia turned to enter into the front room.

Dante and Alexander followed the
trio into the room and sat on the opposing couch. Jim leaned against the door
frame at the back of the room, just a couple of feet behind the other two men.
Laney stood behind his shoulder in the wide doorway; gatekeepers between them
and their matriarch. Zoey slinked down the stairs and leaned against the
banister at the bottom. Sophie stepped forward to join the group, but Catherina
stopped her with a touch.

Celia glanced around the room, her
eyes continually shifting back to where Sophie stood.

Dante spoke first. “Celia, we expected
you; however, what we do not know is
why
you have come.”

“We’re just passing through,” she replied
casually. “We thought it’d be nice to come pay our respects to the Leone
coven.”

“
Family
,” Jim articulated menacingly
from the doorway.

She chuckled. “
Family
. My
mistake.”

The room fell silent for many
minutes, but no one gave the other party a glimpse into their thoughts, as they
stared each other down.

Alexander’s eyes narrowed. “What
are you really doing here?”

“Just passing through,” Celia
insisted, her frigid eyes leveled at him.

Chaz looked up. “There’s been talk
that something’s about to go down,” he said. “We wanted to see if it’s true.”

Dante nodded.

Alexander’s eyes never left
Celia’s—as if he were waiting for her next move. She in turn didn’t look away
from him.

Sophie silently drifted down the
stairs and wandered towards the group. She stopped a few steps behind where
Alexander stood. The tension in the room was nearly palpable.

Dante finally broke the silence:
“The rumors are true. An old enemy of my wife’s is coming.”

The trio did a double take at the
mention of the word “wife.” Celia glanced away from Alexander for half a second
in surprise, but then leveled her gaze back at him quickly.

Masumi looked to Dante. “Is it true
he spoke to the Council about it?” She asked in a light, accented voice.

“It is.”

The trio glanced at each other
meaningfully.

“Do you know when he’s going to be
here?” Celia asked quickly, shifting her gaze to Dante.

“No one has seen him yet, but his
cohorts are quite active in the area.”

“Well, in that case, we were
wondering if we might stay here tonight. We’ll be on our way tomorrow, going
back home to Austin. We’d prefer not to be out at night. You know how it is,”
Celia said. “Especially with the entire ruckus you all seem to be so good as to
stir up.”

Jim smirked at her in response.
You’ve
got no idea.

Dante turned to Catherina. She
nodded slightly to him before he looked back at Celia. “You are welcome here
for tonight.”

Celia’s eyes flicked back to Sophie
before looking back at Dante. “Thank you,” was all she replied.

Sophie’s eyes shifted quickly to
the window. The sun was just beginning to set.

Dante rose and looked down at Celia
and her little group. “Please make yourselves comfortable. We have extra rooms
upstairs which you are welcome to utilize. Jim will show them to you,” he said
before walking to the kitchen.

“Come on,” Jim said to the three as
he walked towards the stairs.

They stood together in one sweeping
movement. Sophie watched Celia and the others go up the stairs. Celia looked back
over her shoulder at Sophie after she’d passed; her mind unreadable.

“You could cut that tension with a
knife!” Laney exclaimed in a whisper once their visitors were upstairs with
Jim.

“That’s an understatement,” Sophie
replied quietly.

“Sophie, may I have your arm?”
Catherina asked gently.

Sophie walked to her and offered her
arm to Catherina. She took it and Sophie could feel Catherina’s weight shift
onto her. Even so, Catherina was as light as a feather and Sophie tried to keep
herself from thinking that some of the weakness might be an act. It all seemed
just a bit too good, too convincing; perhaps contrived. Sophie couldn’t believe
her.

She glanced at Catherina and
flinched. The older woman truly
looked
at Sophie for the first time in
the few weeks they’d known each other, but it spoke volumes. Her look was a
defiant glare, and the chill in her eyes was penetrating as a shiver ran up
Sophie’s spine.

She cleared her mind of her
suspicions and helped Catherina down the stairs and into the kitchen. Laney
followed them there, and took a seat beside Catherina as they watched Dante
begin dinner; a man who, clearly, thoroughly understood the joy of cooking. Zoey
wandered over to the window.

Alexander walked to Sophie,
silently took her hand and led her out of the room. They walked into the library
on the opposite side of the house. He closed the door behind them.

“Are you alright?” he asked,
concerned. He held both of her hands to his chest.

She looked at him, confused. “Yeah,
I’m fine. What was that all about? Why did Celia keep staring at me like that?”

“She can tell that you are very
powerful,” he replied simply.

“What is it with everybody?”

“Sophie, you have no idea,” he
replied.

“You’re right, I don’t. Could you
clear that up for me?” She asked, feeling the irritation build into something
more ominous.

She knew her frustration was
misguided even as the words erupted from her throat, but she could do little to
stop them.

“I’m sorry,” she said.

He shook his head and ignored her
anger.

“Sophie, what you did when you were
searching for Celia and the others was extraordinary in itself. No one reacts
as you have in a psychic circle; to the intensity that you have,” he began. “And
then there is your uncanny ability to access your instincts,” he ran a hand
through his hair, a wild look of excitement in his eyes. “I have
never
seen
someone accept their abilities as well, and as
quickly
as you have. Add
to that what happened last night...”

“You mean the fight?” She
interrupted. “It was pretty crazy; you guys are amazing, but I still didn’t
understand what exactly that had to do with me and why
I’m
getting all
the attention.”

“There are so many things about
vampires that you haven’t learned yet,” he sighed, collecting his thoughts.

He dropped her hands and crossed
his arms, staring at the floor in concentration. His thoughts were a confusing
web of excitement, frustration, and near anger, which Sophie couldn’t even
begin to decipher. After a moment, he looked back at her.

“How do I explain?” he wondered out
loud. “Vampires are psychically connected with one another, and they are
organized into a highly-intricate infrastructure, or a government one might
say. They would have
physically felt
when the group we vanquished last
night was killed; when they were no longer part of the collective, I suppose
you could say. They function as if they were on a spider’s web: if one section
is pulled or destroyed, the others feel and react to it. And they would also
have seen what those six or so saw before we ended them.”

She nodded, though she wasn’t
entirely sure where he was going with it. He continued patiently.

“The Council is organized in such a
manner so that they know what is occurring at all times. The chances of another
vampire knowing what you have done and what you are capable of is
extremely
likely. In fact, there are probably a very large number who know already, and
news travels fast. I would be willing to bet Celia heard about this on the
street.”

Sophie stared at him in disbelief.
“You’re kidding me. But I didn’t really do anything. You guys were awesome…I
mean, you both were so fast and…And Zoey was just as good.” Her mind raced for
an answer.

“Yes, we were, but we were only
acting
physically
. Remember what you said when Jim asked how you had killed
the vampire?”

Sophie shrugged. “Yeah, that I just
wanted…” she stopped mid-sentence, and looked at him with wide eyes. “Oh. I
just wanted it. I only had to
want
it.”

“Your psychic ability is something
that we have never seen before. You crippled him
with your mind
. Do you
see how significant that is?” he asked, searching her face. “You envisioned it,
and it came to pass. You need to look within yourself and find the strength
that is there,” he said, shaking his head back and forth slightly. “You have no
idea how much potential you have, but Celia can tell; we all can. That is why
she watched you so cautiously. You make her nervous.”

“She seemed to like baiting you,
regardless.”

“Yes, but that’s ancient history.
She is wary of you.”

She smiled a bit, but still didn’t
believe him.

“Alright,” he replied with
determination, “I shall prove it to you.”

“What are you doing?”

He didn’t answer, but he stepped
over to one of the shelves and pulled a heavy book down from the towering piece
of furniture. The spine had to be five inches thick. It was old and sturdy,
dusty with lack of use.

“Stand up,” he commanded.

She slowly rose from the chair she
hadn’t realized she had sunk down into as they had been talking.

“Now,” he said turning to face her.
“Protect yourself,” he said causally before violently hurling the heavy tome directly
at her head.

She panicked; she couldn’t believe what
he was doing. She saw the book coming at her, flying through the air, and
before she had time to think, she instinctively sent the book flying into the
wall where it crashed and then fell in disarray onto the floor. It left a dent
in the wall.