‘Perhaps. But what about us?’ Tony asked. ‘Can he sense us?’
‘Let’s hope he’s distracted,’ Cassius said, keeping us on task, ‘All right. Tracy, did you park your SUV where we agreed?’
Tracy nodded. It was just at the end of the street.
‘Good. Now remember, we need to get into Tracy’s SUV exactly when one twenty-six hits. That gives us two minutes before the sun is scheduled to shine again.’
‘You covered the windows of the car?’ I asked.
‘Black curtains. And we put up a curtain divider between the front seat and the back row.’
‘We have to go now,’ Henri whispered. With that, he and Cassius were over the stone wall and into the backyard. My eyes lingered on Tracy’s bracelet and we exchanged a knowing glance. I stood up and peeked over the granite wall.
The others climbed over too. In single file, Tony, Tracy, Henri and Cassius snuck towards the house.
Liliana moved in so that her back was against the house.
1.10 p.m.
We had sixteen minutes. Cassius crouched before the window, which was much smaller than I had imagined. It would have to be completely open for anyone to get through it. Now that we were here, I would definitely need their help manoeuvring Rhode out of that window. I imagined him limp in my arms, unable to move. Henri, Cassius, Tony and Tracy had reached the window by now.
Liliana motioned for me to join them in the backyard. I climbed the stone wall, dropping quietly on to the grass. Quickly I ran for a tree and hid behind the trunk. Please let Cassius be right.
I prayed Justin wouldn’t expect an attack on this dangerous day.
1.11 p.m.
Rhode is alive. He has to be. Once I reached the window, Cassius handed me the sword from the duffel bag. I gripped the metal and threw my long braid over my shoulder behind me. In the time it took me to get from the beach to the house, Cassius had removed the glass from the window with a special knife.
‘The total eclipse will be seven minutes maximum,’ he reminded us. ‘Remember, the moon never stops moving.’
Cassius hoisted himself feet first through the window and disappeared into the darkness. Henri followed. Their agility made it look so easy. I stopped next to Tony and Tracy and squeezed Tony’s shoulder.
‘Good luck, Len,’ he said.
The sound of my nickname again made my heart surge.
It was my turn. I squatted down and held on to the window frame with my free hand. With the other, I pressed my blade close to my body and lowered myself through the gap. Someone, either Cassius or Henri, grabbed my ankles. As soon as my feet brushed the floor of the stairwell I tapped the area around me with the ball of my foot. I wanted to get my bearings and a sense of how much room I had around me.
Tony and Tracy dropped into the stairwell behind me, and lastly Liliana. I raised the sword and pointed it down the hallway. Cassius put his index finger to his mouth.
Tony and Tracy crept along back to back just as we had rehearsed in the chapel. To our left, carpeted stairs led up to a door. Hard-rock music played from the floor above. The guitars were too loud, the lead singer’s voice screeched as it echoed about the second storey. Liliana’s expression was razor sharp. Her movements were almost robotic. She aimed her arrow directly at the top of the stairs. I tiptoed away from the door and towards a hallway at the bottom of the staircase.
Cassius followed behind me and we headed down the hall. I just hoped he was right about Rhode’s location.
I had barely gone ten feet before Liliana cried out loudly, ‘Run, Lenah!’ She said something else in Linderatu that I could not understand. I spun around. One of Justin’s vampires stood at the top of the stairwell. ‘Justin!’ the vampire called. Liliana fired an arrow, but I didn’t linger to see if it hit.
‘Renoiera. Now!’ Cassius demanded.
A door to my left opened before I even approached it. A vampire stepped into the hallway – a girl that I did not recognize at first.
‘Jackie!’ Tony yelled. ‘Lenah – that’s Jackie Simms!’
Justin had made Jackie Simms a vampire. Just as I had suspected . . .
She jumped at me but instinct took over and I kicked her square in the chest. She fell backwards using her arms for balance. I ran at her. Knowing the dagger would be easier than the sword, I threw the sword down. I flung my wrist forward and the hilt of the dagger slipped into my hand. In one swift motion I plunged it into her dead vampire heart. She collapsed to the floor.
I stood up and wiped some stray hairs out of my face. Cassius’s eyes travelled from the body on the floor to me. With his eyebrows raised he handed me my sword. Good. Maybe he would treat me like the soldier I was and not the queen he wanted me to be.
Jackie Simms lay motionless, her thin lips parted.
She was seventeen and she was dead.
So wasteful – another unneeded death. I was surprised how easy it was for me to kill her. But she was young and had not had time to train as I had.
Get Rhode, you dimwit, a voice that sounded an awful lot like Vicken’s yelled in my head.
Cassius kept his sword high and at the ready.
I slid the dagger out of the body and wiped the blood on my pants. The door Jackie had come through was not a room but a hidden stairway leading to the first floor. The same disjointed rock music played from behind that door as well.
‘Lenah!’
The back of Tracy’s heels bumped against the stairs. She struggled against the grasp of a male vampire three times her size. Tony threw himself on her attacker’s back, trying to wrestle him to the floor.
Liliana ran up the stairs and there was a quick draw of her bow.
‘Get down, Tony!’ she cried, and he jumped aside.
Once the arrow flew through the air, the vampire grabbed for his chest. Tracy toppled freely to the ground.
Cassius swung his sword and I ducked. He jumped at a vampire who had been intending to attack me from behind. Cassius sliced the sword through the vampire’s neck, sending its head rolling across the marble floor.
Good. Three less opponents.
I yanked open the second door, ready to fight whoever or whatever was behind it. But it was just a room filled with discarded furniture draped in white sheets.
‘This isn’t just a coven,’ Cassius said from behind me. ‘He’s got a small army here. What’s that now? Three?’
In my mind Rhode was chained, starving, possibly almost dead.
‘Lenah!’ Someone called my name but I could not see who. Feet trampled overhead, making the light fixtures shake.
I crossed the hallway to a third door.
Cassius crept behind me on the balls of his feet, ready to spring at anyone coming near us. My friends had gone upstairs where I could not watch them. The Dems will take care of them – remember what Cassius said.
I turned the knob to the third door . . . damn it! No Rhode. Instead, weapons of every imaginable shape and form were harnessed to the walls. In the corner was a workstation very much like an alchemist’s lab. I didn’t know why, but I could sense that Laertes had been kept in that room. He wasn’t here now, but the space held that same vibration I had experienced in his house. It was a holy sort of vibration, one of much knowledge, like a stillness, neither good nor evil.
Justin knew we were coming. Laertes was removed. My old soul whispered to me.
Maybe he didn’t think we were coming today, but with Rhode’s disappearance he had to know we would come sooner rather than later.
A piece of silver flew by my face. It was a knife knocked out of someone’s hand. It also passed within inches of my head. It clattered to the floor and I jumped out of the way of Cassius. There was a swirl of black clothing and metal. Justin.
I had expected Justin to make a grand entrance to hurt me, to make a spectacle.
This could only mean one thing – our attack had taken him by surprise.
Cassius swiped the sword through the air, forcing Justin further down t
he hall. I wasted no time and took my opportunity to throw open the final door and step into a darkened room with a carpeted floor. Clashing metal resounded behind me. A shard of light came from a square window near the ceiling. Something was huddled in the shadowed corner.
‘Rhode!’
I slammed the door closed behind me, but there was no lock. Long chains held up Rhode’s arms above his head, and his head lolled to one side. I ran to him and extended a hand to touch his chin. He didn’t look as if he was breathing. Sunlight filtered into the room but the window was too high and the light didn’t reach the floor. I couldn’t tell if the eclipse had started yet.
‘Rhode?’ I said. My voice was unsteady. ‘Can you hear me?’
He didn’t move. His legs stuck out before him, his hands unmoving like a rag doll.
‘Rhode. Mon amour,’ I said in French. ‘My love.’
His head snapped up and I kicked away from him. I jumped so far that I hit the wall behind me. Animalistic sounds came from Rhode. I closed my eyes tight.
His eyes.
This wasn’t possible. It was a trick of the shadows in the room. A crash echoed outside the door.
‘I’m going to untie you,’ I said, crawling forward. I had to unhook the heavy chains that were linked three feet above his head. As I inched closer, the blue of his eyes sent a sob through me.
As I got to Rhode, his hand snapped out and clenched around my wrist. He pulled me to him and examined every part of my face.
‘You,’ he said, emphasizing every word, ‘are too late.’
His pupils had hardened. The skin of his face was buffed to an unnatural polish.
For the second time in his long life, Rhode Lewin was a vampire.
CHAPTER 16
I caught a second sob in my chest and held my breath to prevent it escaping. For a moment, just a split second, I wished myself a vampire again.
‘How could he do this to you?’ I whispered. Rhode’s hand was still clutching my wrist.
‘He . . .’ Rhode began. He struggled with the words. ‘He thought it would bring back my memory,’ Rhode said. He looked at me, searching. ‘When did I lose my memory?’ he asked. ‘Who am I really?’
‘I didn’t want to burden you,’ was all I could say. It occurred to me how hungry he must be – I could see it in his eyes. ‘I’m going to give you some blood soon,’ I said. ‘I promise I will, but first I have to get you out of here.’
He let go of my wrist and I reached up to the chain, unlinking it from the hook. It fell in a heavy coil to the floor. He rubbed at his wrist and forearms. When I squatted back down our faces were inches apart. His eyes kept rolling back in his head. Rhode was even weaker than I had expected. He had been fed blood at some point, but barely. I would need Cassius’s help to get him out of here.
I extended my arm. ‘Feed from me.’ The familiarity of this same event with Suleen washed over me. I wouldn’t lose Rhode too.
There was a hard slam against the door. I pushed my arm just under his nose.
‘Hurry, Rhode, please. Otherwise you’ll die,’ I said, shaking my hand in his face. ‘Please.’
‘I . . .’ He hesitated. ‘You don’t know how badly I want to.’
I kept my arm extended.
‘Yes, I do. Do it. I’m ready.’
He pushed against me so I fell back.
‘No! We barely know one another,’ he cried. ‘And now this has happened. I’m . . . I’m a . . .’
The door slammed open, and Cassius ran into the room.
‘Renoiera! Justin has run up to . . .’ he said and stopped, registering Rhode’s state.
‘Cassius!’ Liliana cried from upstairs. ‘Help!’
Cassius took a step to Rhode.
‘Go to her!’ I ordered. He swept out of the room with a frown. We struggled into the hallway.
‘You must come. It’s your chance to get away from him.’ Rhode pushed up from the floor and together we made it to the basement stairs. Above the stairwell landing was the window where we had entered the house. Up those stairs was the main floor.
The lights above us continued to flicker from the heavy feet running above. Cassius’s voice echoed, but with all the commotion, I couldn’t tell what he said. When we made it to the base of the stairs, Rhode stumbled and we had to sit. The window above mocked me. It was the only escape route that would avoid us entering into the fight upstairs.
I mentally measured the distance from the floor to the window. Rhode held his head in his hands. There was no way I could get him through that window on my own. He would have to be hoisted up and he had no arm strength. He could barely stand for more than five seconds. The sun trickled brightly into the stairwell; the eclipse hadn’t begun yet. I glanced behind me and ran through my options. There was no way out. I would have to go to the first floor to try to get Rhode out.
‘Listen to me,’ I said to Rhode. ‘A total solar eclipse is happening any minute. If the sunlight touches you once the eclipse completes, you’ll die.’
‘Leave me here,’ Rhode said. ‘Get yourself out.’
I stuck my wrist out below his lips. ‘If you feed, you’ll have enough strength to get through this window before the eclipse even starts.’ Rhode leaned an elbow on the stair behind him and squinted at me.
‘Do you . . . ?’ The words were strained. ‘Do you know what I am?’ he asked.
‘You’re with me,’ I said. ‘Forever.’
I stood up. I hated leaving the window, but Rhode was too traumatized and I couldn’t get him through it alone. ‘Let’s go,’ I said.
Rhode was able to get up the stairs, but he had to lean against me when we got to the top. I cracked the door open. A living room that was in a shambles. Bookcases had been toppled over and a desk lay on its side. Vampires were fighting throughout the room. The noise was deafening.
Across the room was a great arched window. A chair, hurled by one of Justin’s coven, flew through it with such force that shards of glass exploded to all corners of the room. I tried to close the door to avoid the flying glass, but a couple of pieces hit the doorframe and skidded into the stairwell.
From where I stood, I could see a carport below the shattered window, covering a black sports car. If Justin escaped through that broken window, the awning would protect him from the powerful sun. There was no way I could get Rhode to the carport without risking injury.
Above the awning, a quarter-moon shadow covered the left side of the sun.
The eclipse had begun.
I couldn’t worry about Justin; I had to keep focused on Rhode.
He leaned his body weight against the banister. We edged out of the stairwell. To my left, just as Cassius explained, a long hallway led to a side door. That door would lead out to the lawn and the quickest route back to Tracy’s SUV.
Seven minutes of total eclipse, Cassius had said.
At the far end of the room Tony jumped on a blonde vampire’s back and tackled her to the ground. Tracy threw herself over the vampire for protection.
What the hell? ‘Leave her alone!’ Tracy ordered Tony.
I know that face . . .
Kate Pierson hissed, baring new fangs.
No. Not her. Not this way.
My lips parted and I couldn’t help but stare. I clenched my jaw tight; I wanted to help. I wanted to scream.
‘Stop covering her!’ Cassius cried, and ran to Tracy’s side. He ducked quickly to avoid an arrow flying over his head. ‘Tracy, step away. It’s too late.’ He glanced back at me. ‘Lenah, go!’ He pointed to the door at the end of the hallway. ‘It leads to the yard!’ Cassius cried. ‘Go!’
‘We have to hurry,’ I said to Rhode.
Rhode’s head turned lazily to the scene on the floor as I pulled him down the hall.
‘Kate . . .’ Rhode said. ‘Was that Kate Pierson?’
Rhode was six feet four and his body far outweighed mine. We got a few steps but soon his feet dragged, and dragged some more. I had barely lifted him again wh
en the muscles in my hands seized. I had to let go, and both Rhode and I collapsed to the floor. Vampires have no need for breath, but Rhode was so weakened he couldn’t get out a full sentence without stopping to gain strength.
‘I feel . . .’ he said. ‘I feel it. I am familiar with this . . .’ He shook his head. ‘Whatever I am.’
Outside the smashed window, Esteban’s voice echoed into the room. He must have been close by outside though his voice was drowned out by the fighting around me.
I slung an arm under Rhode and placed the bulk of his body weight on my neck and shoulder. Just let me get him out before Justin sees us. At the end of the hallway, Cassius, Tony and Tracy struggled to hold down the kicking and screaming Kate. Tony had her by the feet. I glanced at the partially eclipsed sun again.
‘You have to go,’ I cried to Cassius.
‘Three minutes,’ Cassius yelled.
‘It’s not enough time!’ I screamed back. In the fray, the Dems fought Justin’s vampires but I couldn’t find Justin.
A discarded sword lay on the floor close by, but I couldn’t reach it and hold Rhode at the same time. I had no choice but to leave it. We trudged a few steps when my biceps burned and shook again. Damn this mortal body! I had to stop.
We sunk to the floor for the second time.
From where I was in the hallway, I could make out some of the living area and another flight that led upstairs.
A thud of dread fell through my stomach.
Justin was coming down the stairs. He sighed and descended into the mayhem as though arriving at a dinner party.
‘Get up!’ I said quickly to Rhode. ‘Get up, get up, get up.’
Justin sauntered down the hallway towards Rhode and me. From somewhere close by, music blared with such force that the bass made the wall hangings vibrate.
Rhode pressed his hands against the wall and we both trembled as we got to our feet.
Justin continued his slow walk. His nostrils flared and his fangs descended, just touching his bottom lip. He stopped before us. Without a word, his hand snapped out and he seized Rhode by the neck.