“You are my mortal heir,” Lord Reginald said with a hint of pride in his voice. “He will obey any command that you might give him. He was just eager for you to know his story, and he knew that you wanted to know it as well. You seem to be developing a very strong connection with him.”
“I wish it didn’t hurt so much,” Elizabeth said.
“In time, you will be able to endure it,” Lord Reginald said. “You are already growing more and more powerful yourself, though you are not aware of it.”
“The vision that Romulus showed you could have killed you,” Sir Marcus said.
Elizabeth jumped slightly. She had almost forgotten that he was with them.
“You were strong enough to break the connection when it became too much,” he said.
Elizabeth gave a sarcastic laugh. “I don’t feel very strong or powerful,” she said. “I felt like my head was going to explode.”
“One can never know how strong they are until they have reached the very edge of despair,” Lord Reginald said in a low voice, more to himself than to Elizabeth or Marcus. “I fear that soon, your strength will be tested in ways that you cannot possibly imagine.”
A shiver ran down Elizabeth’s spine at his words.
Sir Marcus laughed aloud. “But not tonight, father,” he said. “Her mind has been tampered with quite enough for one night. Come on, Elizabeth, I will take you back to your dorm.”
Lord Reginald nodded but remained silent.
“Goodnight, my lord,” Elizabeth murmured as rose and followed Sir Marcus out of the room.
Chapter 11
“What did he mean back there about my strength being tested?” Elizabeth asked as she walked with Sir Marcus.
Marcus shrugged nonchalantly. “He’s just worrying himself,” he said. Anya’s death weighs heavily on his heart tonight, and Romulus bringing up memories of the abyss didn’t help either.”
Elizabeth sighed. She would never have said it out loud, but she had been relieved when Sir Marcus had led her away from Lord Reginald and Romulus. She had been feeling so tired that she had worried about making it home, but now that she was walking through the grove, she felt herself becoming strangely alert.
“The night air is invigorating,” Sir Marcus said as if he had read her mind. “Especially after such a grueling affair.”
“I feel like my mind has been turned to mush,” Elizabeth said.
“Anyone else’s mind would have been turned to mush after all that,” Sir Marcus said grimly.
Elizabeth ran her fingers through her hair nervously.
“In the vision that Romulus showed me,” Elizabeth said after a few minutes of silent contemplation. “What was that big shadowy wolf that followed Lord Reginald and the others into the abyss? Could that have been Romulus himself?”
“That was Augustus,” Sir Marcus said. “He was bringing my father a message from me. I was very worried when he did not return. It took me years to find out what had happened to him.”
“What was the message?” Elizabeth asked. “And where were you?”
“Sometimes I wish you weren’t so inquisitive,” Sir Marcus said. “You remind me of my sister.”
“Well, according to Lord Reginald, I am descended from her.”
Sir Marcus chuckled.
“Sorry to be so nosy,” Elizabeth said.
“I sent Augustus to tell my father that Mallory was safe and that I had succeeded in destroying those that had killed Anya.” Sir Marcus said.
Elizabeth frowned and cocked her head to the side.
“I thought that was what Lord Reginald was doing,” she said.
“He was after the one that ordered her death,” Sir Marcus said. The bitterness in his voice could have cut through steel. “I was after the men who actually killed her and kidnapped my sister. I swore an oath that I would rescue Mallory, rain death and destruction upon those who had taken her and killed my mother, and that I would not leave a single member of their families alive. I begged my father to turn me so that I would be strong enough to fulfill my vow.”
Elizabeth shuddered. She could feel the heat of Sir Marcus’ anger radiating from him like a furnace. She felt especially fragile and small next to him right now.
“Forgive me, Elizabeth,” he said. He seemed to be struggling to maintain his composure. “I do not wish to burden you with more of our family’s history tonight. You have enough to bear already.”
Elizabeth felt herself smile in spite of her fear.
“You said ‘our family,’” she said.
The tension in the air around Sir Marcus began to dissipate. He looked down at Elizabeth and returned her smile.
“We are family,” he said. “Regardless of how many centuries have passed and how many generations divide us. I can see clearly that my mother and sister live on in you.”
“I haven’t had a family in a long time,” Elizabeth said sadly.
“You have,” Sir Marcus said. “You just didn’t know it.”
“Did you end up fulfilling your vow?” Elizabeth asked before she could stop herself. Part of her wished that he wouldn’t answer, but he did.
“I did not,” Sir Marcus said. “I couldn’t.”
Elizabeth breathed a sigh of relief. The thought of Sir Marcus killing off entire families for the sake of vengeance had been extremely troubling to her.
Sir Marcus frowned but did not reply.
“One more question,” Elizabeth said as they reached the gap in the hedge.
“At least for tonight, you mean,” Sir Marcus said.
“Lord Reginald’s companions in the vision were all dead,” Elizabeth’s voice faltered at the troubled expression of Sir Marcus’ face.
“Then how could they have followed him into the abyss?” Sir Marcus finished her question.
Elizabeth nodded.
Sir Marcus sighed.
“Only death can open the doors to the abyss.” He said. “The entire clan sacrificed themselves so that Lord Reginald could tread the path between the mortal realm and the pit of Hell.”
“But they’re still alive somehow?” Elizabeth said.
“In a way,” Sir Marcus replied. There was a sort of finality in his voice that told Elizabeth that he would not answer any more questions.
She stood on her tiptoes and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.
“Thank you, Uncle Marcus,” she whispered in his ear. “Goodnight.”
Before he could reply, she jogged across the street to the back door of West Hall. Before she went in, she turned and waved.
Sir Marcus waved back and chuckled to himself.
“Uncle Marcus? I haven’t been called that in centuries.”
Saturday
Chapter 1
“Wake up, Lizzy!” Michelle’s voice woke Elizabeth with a start.
“Go away,” Elizabeth mumbled. She had been tossing and turning all night and had no desire to get out of bed just yet.
“Elizabeth! That Chase guy is on the phone for you!” Michelle started shaking her. Her voice was annoyingly cheerful.
“Tell him I’m sleeping,” Elizabeth said with a yawn.
“Ah! But that would be lying!”
Elizabeth rolled over and looked at Michelle.
“I was sleeping, Michie.”
“But not anymore!” Michelle said as she thrust the phone into Elizabeth’s hands before she could protest further.
“Hello?” Elizabeth said groggily into the receiver.
“Oh, sorry,” Chase’s voice came through the earpiece. “Sounds like you really were sleeping.”
“Yup,” Elizabeth replied. She halfheartedly threw her pillow at Michelle who was now prancing in front of her bed with her tongue out.
Michelle caught it and threw it back playfully.
“It’s almost noon,” Chase s
aid. “I was thinking that maybe we could get some lunch, and in your case, maybe some coffee?”
Elizabeth yawned again.
“Lunch? Sure.”
“Awesome,” Chase said. Elizabeth could picture him smiling that adorable crooked smile of his.
“I can pick you up,” he said. “You’re in West Hall, right?”
Elizabeth smiled. Surely she had been a little hard on him yesterday. He really did seem like a nice guy.
“Give me like forty minutes,” she said. “I have to get ready and possibly kill my roommate for waking me up.”
Chase laughed. “I’ll see you then. I’ll be on the front steps.”
“Sounds good,” Elizabeth said. She hung up and glared at Michelle.
“What?” Michelle’s innocent tone did not match her evil grin. “You’re going to lunch with a cute guy!”
“You’ve never even seen him. You had one phone conversation with him.”
“And what’s your point? He sounded cute over the phone.”
Elizabeth rolled her eyes and dragged herself out of bed.
“You should totally wear that super cute dress that you bought last year,” Michelle said.
“The one that you made me buy?” Elizabeth asked. She put on her bathrobe and gathered her shower supplies.
“And that you keep refusing to wear,” Michelle said. “I have the perfect boots for it somewhere in my closet. I’ll find them while you shower.”
Elizabeth shook her head, but she knew better than to try to protest. Her roommate was a little too obsessed with shoes.
“Just so you know,” she said with a chuckle just before leaving the room for the shower. “I’m still going to kill you. It’ll just have to be after lunch.”
Michelle, who was already half buried in the closet laughed and waved her out the door. “Only if it’s a bad date, Lizzy, and even then, not until you give me all the juicy details.”
Chapter 2
“Someone had a late night last night,” Chase said with a wry smile as Elizabeth emerged from West Hall at a quarter to one.
“It’s Saturday,” Elizabeth said. “You’re supposed to sleep in on Saturday.”
“True enough,” Chase said. “That’s a nice dress, by the way.”
“Thanks,” Elizabeth said. She did an awkward little twirl to show it off. The soft brown skirt fluttered around the tops of her knee-high boots.
“You might want to take the tag off though.”
Elizabeth looked down and grimaced at the sight of the tag hanging from her sleeve.
“Oops,” she said as she hastily removed it. “It’s my first time wearing it. I don’t really wear dresses very often.”
“Neither do I,” Chase said.
Elizabeth smiled.
“So where should we eat?” Chase asked.
Elizabeth gave a noncommittal shrug. “You invited me.”
“I don’t really know the area,” Chase said. “I’ll eat anything.”
Elizabeth checked her watch. “Do you like Japanese?” she asked. “There’s a sushi place a couple blocks from here, and I’ve heard they have really good lunch specials. We can walk there if you feel like it. I don’t have a car on campus.”
“Sounds good,” Chase said cheerfully. “Nothing like a walk on a nice day to work up an appetite. Lead the way.”
“Sure thing,” Elizabeth said, and they set off walking down the tree lined street with the sun shining brightly down on them.
#
“So your roommate, Michelle, right,” Chase said after a few minutes of amiable silence. “She seems energetic.”
“That’s one way of putting it,” Elizabeth said with a smirk. She appreciated his brave stab at conversation. There was something about him that made her feel awkward and uncomfortable one minute and then perfectly at ease the next. It was strange, like there was something lurking beneath his calm surface.
Chase shot her a mischievous look. “Too bad,” he said. “I’ll never get to meet her in person since you’ve killed her.
“I’ve decided to let her live a little longer,” Elizabeth said with a chuckle.
“Glad to hear it.” Chase said knowingly. “It’s such a pain to dispose of a body after all.”
“That’s creepy.” Elizabeth shook her head, trying to keep from smiling.
Chase gave her a cheeky grin. “Sorry, but you started it. Maybe I think that you’re creepy.” He said.
“Then why ask me to lunch?”
“People like me need a little creepy in their lives.”
Chapter 3
Ocean Sushi was good, but Elizabeth and Chase soon found themselves so caught up in conversation that they hardly noticed what they were eating.
“So you just threw your shampoo bottle and killed it?” Chase asked with a grin.
“Yup, left a smear of cockroach guts on the wall,” Elizabeth said. “Though I guess that’s not a very good story during lunch.”
“No worries,” Chase said through the big bite of salmon that he had just taken. “I have a very strong stomach, and there’s really nothing that you could say that would stop me from eating this delicious food.”
Elizabeth took a few bites herself before replying, “Good to know.”
“It’s good to see a girl with such a hearty appetite.”
“I’ve been eating a lot more than usual lately,” Elizabeth said. “It’s kind of weird.”
“Stress maybe?” Chase said with a wink. “Cockroaches invading your private shower time can be pretty traumatic.”
“It’s true,” Elizabeth said with mock severity. “And Michelle always makes me kill any spiders that she finds in our room.”
“I see I’ve misjudged you, Lizzy, my dear. Here I was thinking that you couldn’t even hurt a fly, and I find that you are a master assassin of all manner of creepy crawlies.”
“I’m actually pretty brutal when it comes to flies too. I almost never miss.”
“That is impressive.”
“Oh, shut up.”
#
“You’re a really good listener, Chase,” Elizabeth said as they finished their lunch. “You make me feel like my boring life is so exciting.” She couldn’t help but smile inwardly at how interesting her life had become lately. Though he probably would have thought she was completely loony if she told him about it. “But I feel like I don’t know anything about you,” she continued. “It’s not usually like me to prattle on about myself.”
Chase shrugged. “I guess I’d rather hear about you than bore you with my life,” he said. “You’re a bright and interesting college student, and I’m a boring old guy.”
“Oh please,” Elizabeth said with a snort. “You’re what, like eight years older than me? Stop trying to be all mysterious.”
Chase winked roguishly across the table.
“You think I’m mysterious?” he asked. “I definitely like that more than ‘creepy.’”
Elizabeth rolled her eyes in response.
“I’m in town visiting family,” Chase said, growing serious. “My father died recently, so I’m taking time off of work.”
“I’m so sorry,” Elizabeth said. She felt a pang of guilt at her curiosity. He clearly had not wanted to talk about it. Her own parents’ deaths in that car crash had been so long ago that she hardly even remembered them.
“It’s okay. You couldn’t have known.” Chase said.
An awkward silence fell between them.
“He died well,” Chase said at last. “He saved my life.”
Elizabeth frowned. There was something in his tone that disturbed her, though she couldn’t explain why. She suddenly wished that she could see through him the way that Lord Reginald and Sir Marcus could see through her, but try as she might, she just could not get a good read on him.
r /> “Excuse me,” Chase said as he stood abruptly. “I have to use the restroom.”
Elizabeth nodded, unable to trust herself to speak. She couldn’t help wondering if Chase could also feel the strange tension that she felt between them. It was not merely because of the death of his father. There was something else there. Or maybe she was just imagining things.
Chapter 4
“I’m so stuffed,” Elizabeth said, rubbing her stomach as they reached steps of West Hall. She was convinced that she had imagined whatever it was that had disturbed her about Chase. Surely it had just been the grief of losing his father that had made him behave oddly. When he had returned from the restroom, everything seemed normal between them and they had been chatting pleasantly about nothing for their entire walk back to campus. “It’s a good thing that we walked back, or I’d feel like a total fatty.”
Chase let out a snort of laughter.
“What?” Elizabeth said playfully, though she could already guess what his answer would be.
“What is it with girls always saying that they’re fat?”
“What is it with guys always asking girls about why they always say they’re fat?”
“I’m now officially confused.” Chase threw his hands into the air in surrender.
“That’s the idea,” Elizabeth said with mock exasperation. “You’re supposed to say that I’m absolutely perfect and beautiful in every way and that I’m silly to say that I’m fat.”
“Oh, forgive me,” Chase said gallantly. He waved his hand in front of his face as he made as he made a dramatic bow. “You are absolutely perfect and beautiful in every way, and you’re silly to say that you could be even remotely fat.”
Elizabeth chuckled and winked at him.
“Thank you,” she said. “I had a lovely time!” She gave him a little wave and started to bound up the steps towards her dorm.
“Hey wait!” Chase called after her with feigned offense. “Seriously? You can’t leave me hanging like that! You’ve got to at least say something about how ruggedly handsome I am. And I need your number so I don’t have to keep bugging your roommate by calling your room phone.”
Elizabeth turned and walked back down the steps.
“Okay, give me your phone,” she said. She smiled at him and put her number into his phone. “There you go,” she said as she handed it back to him. “And you do have a charming smile.”
“Dinner tonight?” Chase asked with a wide grin.