‘I should have been honest, Tony. I’m so sorry.’ My voice cracked with the threat of tears.
Tony turned back to the painting of his death again.
‘So you . . .’ he started to say.
He searched for the words and I prayed this wouldn’t be the moment I lost Tony. I deserved it for not telling him about his death from the start. I should have said that he had died too young and that seeing him in the flesh this time had nearly made me pass out. I had believed Tony’s death to be final. His face and laugh had haunted me in my father’s orchard. I had even taught Genevieve to spell his name.
Tony shook his head.
‘So you went back in time – reversing history – so you could bring me back?’ he asked with a lift to his voice.
‘Yes,’ I said, closing my eyes again as I confessed.
Warm strong arms slipped around me; Tony was hugging me! Tracy stood back beside Cassius. Her palm covered her mouth and tears ran down her cheeks.
I hugged him back, hard.
‘Thank you,’ he whispered. ‘Thank you for bringing me back.’
I exhaled heavily, relieved that he was here, embracing me and not walking out the door because I had let him down in another life. I squeezed him again.
‘Ow! OK there,’ he said, pulling away. ‘You’re pretty strong, Vampire Queen.’
‘Please don’t call me that.’
‘Why not?’ Tony sounded it out. ‘Vampire Queen – it’s so regal.’
‘I’ve had enough regality for a lifetime,’ I replied.
‘I think we can move on now,’ Cassius said, and the knowing smile on his lips showed that he was satisfied that I had made my peace with Tony. He led us out of the gallery.
‘Before we enter a new phase in our lives, we have a tradition,’ Cassius said. ‘We’d like you to be a part of it tonight.’ We stepped outside to a raised patio that opened up to the higher ground of the backyard. Someone had covered it in hundreds of white candles. I appreciated the sentiment. White candles were cleansing. They could purify a room; they could keep unwanted entities at bay.
Hanging lights twinkled from a lattice. Tracy’s eyes glittered and she reached up so her fingers grazed the lights. Near a path leading into the dunes, Liliana stood with her arrows and bow. Dozens of arrows were piled up on the sand.
There were only ten Dems left after last night’s fight and they stood on the patio, each waiting patiently. Cassius stepped forward with a pen and a basket of pieces of paper.
‘Take as many papers as you’d like. Write on them your deepest fears. No one will see it but you.’
‘Deepest?’ Tony queried.
‘What you fear can sometimes be a self-fulfilling prophecy. Tonight we’ll help to stop that happening.’
I didn’t quite understand, but I sat down at a table beneath the lights with four rectangular pieces of paper from the basket. At another table across from where I sat, Cassius bent over, scribbling on only one sheet of paper. I wanted to know what his deepest fears were, but after seeing him swing a dagger and a machete at Justin at the same time . . . I didn’t think it possible he had any.
Tony held the pen to his mouth, as if he was taking a test. Tracy handed her papers over almost immediately. I envied her confidence. As I stared at my paper, I kept second-guessing my fears.
I feared that Justin would remain a vampire. And worse, that somehow I couldn’t bring him back to the land of the living. I feared that more Demelucrea, who had been made from my blood, would die, and it would be my fault. Deepest of all, I feared that Rhode and I would be separated forever. I had no doubt that, if he died, I would split apart, becoming nothing but frayed edges.
Micah, the lanky, tall Dem, dipped the end of Liliana’s arrow into what appeared to be water in a small gold bowl. Water couldn’t light arrows – it had to be kerosene. Tony stood up and handed over three pieces of paper.
So what did I fear the most?
Paper 1: That I would fail Rhode. That he would die.
Paper 2: That Justin would die.
Paper 3: That I would create more victims in my wake.
And the last paper, Paper 4: That I would need to be queen.
I stood up, joining the group at the arrow and bucket.
‘Come on,’ Liliana said, and we walked to a clearing in the middle of the dune grass.
All the Dems except for Cassius, Micah and Liliana formed a half-circle behind us. Henri stood furthest away, admiring the sky.
‘Go ahead,’ Cassius said to Tony, Tracy and me. ‘We’ll go after you. You stand in the centre.’ A brown wisp of hair curled over his metallic silver eyes. In the moonlight, they looked like steel.
‘Tracy, you first,’ Liliana said, and she took Tracy’s paper, crumpled it into a ball, and handed it to Micah. He shot it into the air with a slingshot and the paper flew up to the stars. Liliana lit the end of an arrow with fire and shot it at the paper. It chased behind, caught it and sizzled in the sky. It fell to the ocean below, extinguishing in the waves.
‘That was awesome,’ Tony said.
‘What did you write?’ I asked Tracy. ‘Of course you don’t need to tell me,’ I added quickly. I only realized as it came out of my mouth how personal a question it was.
Tracy kept watching the waves. ‘That my friends will be hurt or killed. Claudia and Kate . . .’ she hesitated. ‘And Justin.’ She met my eyes. ‘And you too. That we get through this.’ I was touched by her selflessness.
Liliana took Tony’s papers. Micah readied to set them into the sky one after the other. Liliana would need to fire three arrows very quickly to hit them all.
‘When the fire ignites your fear, you are burning it away, so it can’t control you any more,’ Cassius said.
‘And when it hits the water, you are cleansed,’ I finished. All of the Dems, even the silent ones waiting their turn behind us, looked at me.
Their gaze humbled me and I wished I hadn’t said anything. But I had been a vampire for 592 years. I knew a thing or two about rituals, even if I was a human now.
With a quick thwap of the slingshot, Tony’s fears went into the air and Liliana released her bow three times. Each fear sizzled away and dropped in a long arc into the ocean. I hoped the ritual between us was true and binding.
Tony slipped an arm around Tracy’s shoulders.
‘And you?’ Cassius said, and extended his hand, waiting for my fears to be placed in his palm. I handed them over and joined Liliana and Micah.
‘Do you think this really works?’ Tony asked.
‘It’s the intent that matters,’ Liliana said. My heart swelled for her because that was exactly what Rhode would have said.
Four times my fears went into the air, and three were hit by the arrows right away. Liliana fired the last arrow, but it missed the small piece of paper by a wide berth. The white speck lingered in the black sky, was carried by the wind out over the ocean and settled somewhere deep in the waves.
‘I’m a very good shot. I don’t know what happened,’ she apologized, but I caught a smirk on her lips when she bent down to soak another arrowhead. She could hear my fears in her head; she didn’t need the pieces of paper.
‘OK, Cassius,’ Liliana said, ‘Your turn.’
‘My fear is simple,’ he replied, and gave his paper to Micah. ‘That I will fail the Renoiera.’ His steely eyes locked on mine. ‘That I won’t have served my purpose.’
His paper soared into the air, and in seconds Liliana’s arrow pierced it.
‘That I will die without honour,’ he said, and finally tore his eyes away from mine.
CHAPTER 15
The next morning, after assembly, Tony, Tracy and I were in the chapel with the Dems, going over final plans. Since the Luntair ritual I understood the Demelucrea better – especially Cassius. They were exactly what I would have been had I not attempted to perform the ritual for Vicken long ago. They were not quite traditional vampires but still, they were stuck, like all those who are c
ursed to immortality. They were not demons preying on the helpless, but they remained the undead.
Cassius wanted to set right what had been done to the Dems, and I could appreciate that.
Outside the chapel people laughed and chatted excitedly about the eclipse. The phenomenon captivated the entire school. Even Lovers Bay Main Street was getting in on it, with Moon Eclipse Lattes at Main Street Coffee and moon pie specials at Lovers Bay Diner. If only they knew what the eclipse meant for us.
Cassius checked his watch and pointed. ‘We have two hours until the eclipse.’ He resumed a conversation he was having with Micah. ‘Lenah will go last. Make sure Liliana pulls up the rear, but we need Lenah protected. Shielded.’
‘I want to go in first,’ I said.
‘The bottom window gives us the best access,’ Cassius agreed. ‘But you are too valuable to go before us.’
‘No,’ I said. ‘It has to be me.’ I crossed my arms to emphasize my point.
An uproar broke out. Some of them spoke in the vampire language, Linderatu, and some used English. Cassius swore in Italian. One of the words I heard repeatedly was no.
Tony stood by my side. He looked me over and then took the same stance as me, arms crossed over his chest. Tracy, in her usual manner, sat beside us silently. I could tell she was calculating. I had learned never to underestimate her.
‘That’s suicide,’ Liliana said. ‘We can’t risk you going first.’
‘I have to do this,’ I said. ‘If I’m your . . .’ I couldn’t say it. ‘If I am who you say I am to you, I should go first. It’s me Justin wants anyway.’
‘Exactly why you shouldn’t go first,’ Esteban added, speaking up from the darkened corner of the room.
The morning light beamed through the stained-glass windows of the chapel and on to the table where we’d laid out the plans of Justin’s house.
‘I don’t want anyone holding my hand through this,’ I said. Cassius pointed at the drawing of the window.
‘Renoiera, we’re hardly underestimating you. The basement window is four foot high by five foot wide. Please let Micah and me go first. It’s our job to protect you. That way we can show you the best way to get through the window and we can assess if anyone is waiting for us on the inside.’
‘Fine,’ I assented. ‘But I’m going in directly after you.’
‘There are at least three vampires defending Justin. He brought five to the fight outside the chapel, but we killed two. I don’t know how quickly he will replace his men. Tony and Tracy, you will be safer on a quieter floor with more of us protecting you.’
‘No way, Fang-Boy,’ Tracy said. She stood up and continued. ‘I didn’t almost die in some other life to get the quiet floor. We move as a pack.’
Good girl.
‘You make sure you get yourselves out,’ I reiterated to the Dems before me. ‘If I command you to go, you stop fighting and run out of that house. You don’t get to call me Renoiera and then not let me call any of the shots.’ I made sure to lock eyes with Cassius and Liliana when I said it. ‘Also, we get Rhode out and anyone else we can find, human or vampire.’
I did my best not to think of Laertes, the last remaining Hollow One, but he sprang so clearly to my mind with his gummy fangless smile that I couldn’t make the image of him dissipate.
‘Renoiera . . .’ Micah started to say.
‘Look, I know you think he’s dead, but I want you to be prepared to take him with us if we find him. All right?’
‘We’ve had no sense of him at all,’ Micah finished. He meant through the vampire extrasensory perception.
‘Of course we will save him,’ Cassius replied. He folded up the plans on the table and said, ‘We meet at the Wickham gates on Main in an hour. Just as we planned.’
Liliana slipped on a leather bomber jacket, then strapped the quiver to her back. ‘I’ll take out the guards on the ground floor as soon as we get there,’ she said with a flourish.
‘Keep your eyes covered in the daylight,’ Cassius said to the Dems. ‘They make the humans . . . uneasy.’
We left the chapel in twos and threes so as not to draw attention to ourselves.
I whispered to Tony and Tracy as we crossed the quad, ‘You have your weapons? Remember, they only work one time.’
They nodded, just barely.
And because it was a lesson I learned the hard way, I added, ‘Use them only when you need them most.’
It was 1 p.m. I stood outside the Wickham gates with Tony and Tracy. Tony kept tapping his foot.
‘Will you stop that?’ I asked.
‘Oh please. You’ve been biting your lip like a wimpy girl for five minutes. And you are not a wimpy girl. And you –’ Tony turned to Tracy – ‘stop looking at your cell phone.’
‘I haven’t heard from Kate in a couple days. She thinks I’m on Claudia’s side with the whole Alex thing. So I guess that means she’s not talking to me either. We only have calculus together but I didn’t see her today. It’s our drop day.’
Whatever ‘drop day’ meant. I couldn’t allow myself to be distracted by a fight between Claudia and Kate. We had to save Rhode. We would save him, like the hundreds of times he saved me. And Justin? I would try to save him too, if I could.
Cassius, Henri and Liliana walked down Lovers Bay Main Street.
‘They’re coming,’ I said, and pointed down the road.
When they reached us, Cassius said, ‘Act natural.’ He wore a baseball cap to shade his eyes. Liliana didn’t seem to care, and the silver of her eyes sparkled in the sunlight.
My jaw was clamped together so hard I raised my fingers to touch my cheek. It throbbed as we marched to the opposite end of Main Street. Cassius held a duffel bag and Liliana wore a backpack to cover the quiver; our weapons were quite concealed. Cassius handed her a pair of sunglasses, which she took with a roll of her eyes. Now, with their sunglasses and bags, they could have been tourists.
Henri and I trailed behind. It was strange to go into battle during the day; I had spent so long attacking by moonlight.
Warwick Avenue was the last road before the beach, and we had agreed that we would walk the shore to Justin’s house and cross on to his grounds from the backyard. My hands shook so I clenched them into fists.
I hated admitting it, but I was scared. Great leaders or queens shouldn’t feel such abject fear. Fire’s ruby-hilted dagger was fitted firmly to a strap around my wrist, though my long sleeves hid it. I would simply need to fling my arm forward in a specific movement and the dagger would release from its clasp and into my hand. Micah was quite good at showing me how to use it. The dagger was a talisman now, a friend in this fight. The sword Fire had left me was hidden in Cassius’s bag. He’d collected it from me after leaving the chapel that morning.
Cassius and Liliana stopped when we got to the corner of Warwick Avenue. Four properties on the right, four on the left, and at the end, in a shaft of bright sunlight, was Justin’s house.
Domain. Lair. Whatever it was, it was two floors and massive.
As agreed, Liliana tracked us from the street running parallel to the beach. She would have plenty of time to identify and, with her arrows, take out any target coming at us from the beach. The other Dems would come by way of the cemetery and enter Justin’s house from the opposite side.
‘They’ll be the second line of defence,’ Cassius had explained, about Esteban and the other Dems. ‘The fewer people in the house initially, the better. They’ll be waiting outside the instant we need backup.’
As they could read one another’s thoughts, the rest of the Dems would be able to enter as soon as we needed them. I glanced behind us at the long stretch of beach. People were starting to set up on blankets and chairs for the eclipse. They wore light sweaters and readied their cameras. I was ashamed, but I wanted nothing more than to join them and forget all of this was happening.
Henri hurried forward to catch up with me as we made our way down the beach. I clenched my hands again so he wo
uldn’t see them shaking. Be brave, I told myself. Be brave.
‘I think . . .’ Henri said quietly, keeping close to my side. ‘I think all true leaders feel fear.’
I could see myself twice in the reflection of his aviator-style sunglasses.
‘Ah – so you’re reading my thoughts. Hoped you might be distracted.’
‘Sometimes, Renoiera, they are quite loud.’
‘I want to be the best version of myself,’ I said. ‘But it’s not easy.’
‘It never is,’ Henri said.
Cassius walked ahead of us and he turned his head a little as I was talking.
‘Vampires, humans, shape-shifters, phoenix, ocean dwellers, mermaids – I think we all want the same thing, Renoiera,’ Henri added. ‘To be human.’
‘I wish I could give it to you.’
Henri replied only with a small, appreciative smile.
Cassius checked the position of the sun. Soon the moon would cross over it, and once the light following the eclipse hit the earth, any vampire standing in its path would die.
We turned the corner, out of the sight of the eclipse watchers on the beach, and hopefully everyone else.
My hands shook; I didn’t fight it. As we continued to move parallel to the sea wall Liliana’s blonde frame peeked out behind fences and trees, matching our pace. I exhaled a few times. Tony wasn’t cracking jokes or trying to lighten the mood with his comforting quips. Tracy checked her cell phone again.
Finally we reached Justin’s house and Cassius motioned for us to duck below the sea wall. We squatted together in a small circle.
Be brave . . . be brave.
‘OK. So directly ahead is five hundred feet of backyard that leads up to the house. The yard is landscaped with marble statues. Perfect to hide behind.’ Cassius said, and checked the time again. ‘We’re getting close.’
‘It’s important that Lenah is the last to approach the building. It’s possible that Justin will sense her,’ Henri said.
‘Can’t he sense you?’ Tracy asked.
‘The vibration of our energy is very different from that of a normal vampire. It’s inconsistent.’