“Ouch!” he cried.
“Shut up, you liar!” I whispered sharply.
That earned a wince. “I didn’t lie.”
“No, you’re right. You just conveniently left out an important truth. You and Max have a lot more in common than I thought!” I tempered my tone, realizing that my whisper was likely loud enough to carry in the quiet of the jungle.
“Do you blame me?” Julian whispered back. “How could I tell you? Especially after that first night, when you pretty much condemned every one of us!”
“Can you blame me? You want all of my friends to die!”
“No, I don’t! I mean, I did, but not anymore. Please, let me explain!” Julian pleaded.
With my jaw set stubbornly, I sat back on my knees, crossed my arms over my chest, and demanded, “Explain, then!”
Julian struggled to sit up. He met my stare with guilty eyes. “Two years ago, these men approached my parents with an offer. They said they’d help us break free of the vampires.” He pausing for a moment to regain his breath, his breathing shallow. “At first my parents weren’t interested. I mean, they didn’t need to do anything for the vampires except sign some papers every now and then and collect stupid amounts of money. Not exactly high-risk. But a few months later, the men came back with an offer to top whatever my parents were being paid. That, of course, sparked their interest.” There was contempt in his voice. “All we had to do was get marked—” he gestured to his hip “—and report in to a phone number if we heard or noticed anything strange. My parents agreed to it.”
“And you?”
Julian snorted. “They could be quite . . . persuasive.” As if sitting up was too hard, he slowly eased himself back. He stared up at the ceiling for a long moment before continuing. “They threatened not to pay for my med school unless I complied.” His head rolled to look at me now. “So of course I agreed. I mean, what did I care about a bunch of vampires? It was obvious these men wished them harm. I figured we’d all be better off if they actually succeeded in getting rid of them. I didn’t know about the curse, or about this underground Sentinel group and its alliance with the witches . . . I didn’t know about you.” He stared at me, a strange look on his face.
I exhaled loudly, and some of my anger went with it, replaced with a mixture of pity and confusion. Pity that his own parents would drag him into such a mess, and confusion over how they actually pulled off tricking a two thousand-year-old vampire who could read moods. “But how? I mean, how could Viggo not find out that his beard family were double agents?”
Julian shrugged. “It wasn’t that hard, really. We never saw them. The first time I ever stepped foot inside their place in Manhattan was the day you were there. Why would they suspect anything? The men . . . the Sentinel told us that if we kept our markings hidden, we’d be fine.”
I added to his explanation. “And Viggo is so arrogant, he never suspected someone could top his bribes.”
Julian nodded, rolling his eyes. “It took a lot of money, but it happened.”
Something still didn’t sit right with me. “You parents just took the Sentinel’s word at face value?”
Julian chuckled. “No . . . the Sentinel told them that Viggo and Mortimer wouldn’t be around much longer, so if they wanted to be taken care of, they’d be smart to take the deal. My parents accepted on the condition that they got several large advances up front. So I guess they figured that they couldn’t lose, either way.”
“Boy, were they wrong,” I muttered, imagining their last few moments of life and shuddering. “Sorry,” I added.
“Yeah.” Julian’s voice was hollow. “But luckily they didn’t learn anything valuable to the Sentinel while they were there.”
I felt my eyes widen as realization dawned. No, but you have. Julian knew everything there was to know. Everything that I knew, I had stupidly divulged to him. Enough to harm the vampires. Enough to destroy everyone I cared for.
Max pushed through the curtain then, water splashing out of the bowl as he tried to balance it upright within his jaws. He walked it over and leaned down to within Julian’s reach.
“Thanks, Max,” Julian murmured, taking the bowl. He lifted his head enough to drink from the edge of the bowl, his worried eyes locked on me the entire time.
If only you knew, Max, I thought, my focus shifting back and forth between the two of them.
When Julian finished, he half-placed, half-dropped the bowl on the floor and wiped the water from his chin with the back of his hand. “For what it’s worth, I regret ever agreeing to it.”
Regret what? Max piped in.
“Sure you do, now that you got caught,” I answered bitterly.
Caught doing what? Max asked, his tone agitated.
“No . . . now that I know you. Now that I know the whole truth and what could happen if this comes to blows.”
I pressed my lips together as I weighed my options. I could tell Max right now and end any threat Julian could ever become to Caden and the others. But . . . he had saved me from Ursula. He had attacked his own sister—her body—to protect me. I owed him. I didn’t have to trust him. But I needed time to think things through. While we were exiled to yet another remote part of the world, he couldn’t cause too much trouble. It would only take a few words from me to end him. “Nothing, Max,” I finally said, adding with an air of triumph, “You’re on a ‘need to know’ basis.”
Max grumbled in displeasure but said nothing.
The worry in Julian’s eyes lifted slightly. You’re not off the hook, you liar. I turned my back on him. Hugging my chest to my knees, I lamented over everything. At least I didn’t feel like a complete idiot this time. The Foreros had fooled everyone, not just the ever-gullible, naïve Evangeline.
Uncomfortable silence filled the hut as I stared at the mud wall for what felt like hours. Finally I heard the soft sound of snoring. Good. I could easily avoid talking to him for the rest of the day if he wasn’t awake.
9. Illusions
It was my first time in Viggo and Mortimer’s jet cabin since the trip to New York with Evangeline. With four vampires taking turns pacing around in it, three of them beside themselves with grief over the loss of Fiona only hours ago, it didn’t feel quite the same.
Escaping from the Fifth Avenue palace had been easy, but not graceful. Since crashing through an army of witches to escape behind the wheel of a car was too risky, even in the Hum-V, we used the sewer system access from the garage, weaving through muck, rats, and other vileness for a mile or so to resurface in Central Park. From there it was a simple act of grand theft auto and tripling the speed limit to get us to Viggo’s airfield in record time.
We likely could have run to the plane in the same amount of time, had it not been for Bishop. Mage struggled with the broken-hearted vampire every step of the way. All he wanted to do was turn around and dive back into that battleground to avenge Fiona’s death, a reckless move that would mean certain death for him. I even tried a few calming spells on him, but none seemed to work, his anguish overpowering all. I found myself wishing that Mage could compel him to follow peacefully. In the end, Mage kept Bishop alive with brute force, dragging him kicking and screaming through the tunnels, her tiny arm around his broad neck in a headlock. Their difference in size almost made it look comical. I was surprised she bothered, but I felt grateful that she did. Losing one of them would be hard enough for Evangeline. Losing two . . .
Now we flew south toward the remote South American island where Evangeline waited, guarded by a group of demons created in one of my magical blunders. A part of me overflowed with joy that I would finally see my girl again. And when we did meet, it would be without the mask I had so stoically worn to hide my true feelings for her, to alienate myself from her. I would no longer need to lurk within the shadows to be near her. Life would be different now.
I sighed. No, life was not yet different. I needed to be a long way off from joy right now. I had failed to break the deadly curse hanging over her. She was still hunted and now Viggo and Mortimer knew exactly where she hid. I silently admonished myself for not moving the tribe from their original location. It had seemed like too much of a hassle at the time, the island was so isolated, so perfect for concealing that sort of creature. Evangeline was still in great danger, until I figured out how to lift that blasted curse. Then Caden could transform her, something I was sure she wanted, and she would no longer be a fragile human.
Standing at the front of the cabin, I swept my eyes over its occupants, assessing the atmosphere. It was one of complete and utter despair. We had all taken a turn in the jet’s shower, washing the sewers off our bodies. Caden and Mage had pilfered fresh sets of clothes for all of us from the other private planes at the airfield. The physical evidence of the attack was long gone. But all I had to do was glance at Bishop, who sat in a seat off to himself, his forehead pressed up against the window as he stared out at the night sky with empty gray eyes, to see that the witches’ attack had wounded us gravely. My heart ached for the young man. He had just watched his love of seven hundred years burn! The sickness now growing inside him was one to which I could relate. It was dangerous, for him and everyone around him. We’d have to watch him closely.
“Miss Sofie?” The pretty young flight attendant, Jasmine, poked her head into the cabin, pulling me from my dark thoughts.
I turned to smile at her. I had summoned her and the two pilots on our way to the airfield and then compelled them to fly without Viggo’s consent. The three of them were on call twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, with the expectation that they’d be ready to take off within an hour’s notice. It was an unreasonable demand, but they didn’t work much and they were paid handsomely for it, making them willing to cater to Viggo’s eccentricities, taking residences nearby and dropping everything to run at the ring of their phones. Of course, they had no idea what their employers were, other than assuming they were involved in seriously shady business. “Yes, Jasmine?”
“You asked me to tell you when Mr. Viggo arrived at the airfield. The tower called. He just did.”
How predictable. So Viggo and Mortimer had made it to the airfield to take the jet I had already commandeered. They’d be pissed, realizing I had duped them to get a head start to Evangeline. Not that they’d be surprised. I was actually shocked they’d waited in the Warehouse as long as they had. “And?”
“And they tried to take another plane, but all of the cockpits had been vandalized.”
My eyes shifted briefly to Mage, who offered a tiny smile. She and Caden must have busted up the electronics while looking for clothes, to buy us a bigger head start. Smart thinking. Now Viggo and Mortimer would have to find a plane as well as a pilot.
“Thanks for the update, Jasmine.” I smiled warmly. As she was turning away, another thought struck me. “Oh, Jaz?”
“Yes?”
“Have you heard anything over the news about an explosion or terrorist attack in Manhattan . . . anything at all like that?”
Jasmine’s perfectly-sculpted brown eyebrows furrowed as she shook her head. “No, Miss Sofie.”
I smiled again. “Thanks.” That meant the witches were containing the attack, keeping it under wraps. For what reason, I didn’t know. But every day the vampires stayed out of the news kept us away from being exposed, and the fated world war from beginning.
Jasmine pulled her head back into the cockpit, leaving behind a hint of floral-scented shampoo, and closed the door. I heard the lock click and chuckled. If we wanted in, we’d get in, but if a lock made them feel safe, have at it.
“So what does that mean? Will they still come?” Amelie asked, looking up at me with wide emerald eyes from the same seat that Evangeline had occupied on her way to New York.
“Oh, I’m sure they will. We just stalled them slightly. They’ll find a way to get there; we’ll just be there before them and, I hope, be gone by the time they arrive.” That remote island off the southern tip of South America where the tribe lived was the absolute last place on earth Viggo wanted to go. But if that was where Veronique’s pendant was, then as sure as the sun would rise in the morning, that’s where he would go. I just hoped it didn’t require a massacre to get there.
“And what happens when we get there?” Caden asked, his arm wrapped protectively around his sister, worry marring his beautiful face. “Who is this ‘tribe’?”
“Ah, yes. My creation.” I felt my lips curve up in a smile, though nothing about that tribe deserved a smile. I strolled over to take a seat—the same one I had occupied when flying with Evangeline—and asked, “Did Evangeline ever mention the spell I cast that inadvertently cursed her?”
Amelie and Caden’s heads bobbed in assent. “She said something about some . . . fates?” Amelie offered.