Always (37 page)

“
He won’t make you,” she conceded, “but then he won’t go either.”

I ground my back teeth together. I knew she was right and I couldn’t keep Marcus from his family. “Alright,” I said fiercely, “I’ll go.”

I know you can still hear me,
Rueben’s voice sounded in my head.

I looked up then, which was probably not a very good idea. He was standing over my head, glaring down at me. “What?”

“
Let’s just go try again,” he urged.

“
I’m not going anywhere with you.”

“
Why the hell are you so stubborn?”

“
Why are you so mean?”

He leaned down so his face was just inches from mine. “You’ll thank me one day. And one day…”

He stopped talking and shook his head. I took advantage of his momentary silence and pushed myself away from him. “You could just leave,” I suggested again.

“
Or I could stay.”

“
Why would he send me here to you?” I wondered out loud.

“
Where else would you have gone? You obviously can’t be left alone.” He waved his hand in my direction and went back to settle himself in the only comfortable seat.

“
He has other brothers.”

“
Dominick wouldn’t have taken you–neither would Achilles. Damien might have, but if you think I’m mean….” He laughed shortly.

“
Paris, then. He is Marcus’s brother–his true brother.”

“
You’ve met Paris.”

“
He’s nice,” I shrugged.

It was true that he was a little careless and sometimes Marcus called him foolish, but I was sure he would have at least hunted for me. I would have been safe with Paris. At least for the most part, I would have been safe.

“
Yeah, until he forgot where he left you,” Rueben commented.

“
Will you stop doing that?”

“
Doing what?” He shrugged one shoulder.

“
Listening to my thoughts.”

“
Don’t think so loudly.”

I bit down on the inside of my cheek. “Are you always so…?”

“
Charming?” He smiled wide.

“
Not the word I was thinking–since you’re such a mind reader.”

“
You could be, too.”

“
If I became a killer.” The words just shot out of my mouth. Why did Rueben have to bring out the worst in me?

“
I’m not a killer.”

“
You’ve never killed anyone?”

“
Of course I have.” I arched one eyebrow. “Doesn’t make me a monster.” He smiled, unaffected by my cruel words.

I leaned back against the chair. This bantering was getting us nowhere. I already felt exhausted from not feeding in so long. I just wanted to lie down and sleep. “I’m tired,” I blurted out.

“
You need to hunt.”

I glared at him as best I could. “You know,” I began slowly, “I have an idea that would help us both.”

“
Oh, yeah?” His fingers drummed a steady beat on the arm of the chair.

“
I could go with Sylvia.”

“
Do you know where she is?”

“
You could find her. She was traveling with the sisters when Marcus found her.”

“
You wouldn’t be able to keep up,” he taunted.

“
I could stay at Blakesly House while you go.”

His beat paused at my suggestion. “Blakesly House?”

“
Kiera would allow me to stay there.”

“
You are a Letrell–of course you would have safety there. Someone would even hunt for you there.”

“
Marcus should have taken me there in the first place; or at least sent me there.”

“
You wouldn’t have found it on your own.”

“
You could take me there.”

“
Hmm,” he breathed out audibly.

“
It would solve both of our problems.” If I was at Blakesly House, Marcus would be able to find me easier, too. The more I thought about it, the better the idea was sounding. Maybe I wouldn’t even go with Sylvia at all. But she could still come there. It would be nice to be with her, and I knew she didn’t have a companion now that David was missing.

I began to smile, feeling better about this entire situation. If anyone could help me, Kiera could. She hated Silango almost as much as I did. He controlled Damien, too, no matter how much power she had.

I almost felt happy again–almost–until Rueben talked.

“
No.”

“
What do you mean, no?”

“
I’m not taking you to Blakesly House.”

“
Why not?”

“
Marcus told me not to.”

“
Why would he say that?”

“
He did.” Rueben pursed his lips thoughtfully. “He sent you here for a reason.”

“
But, Kiera…”

“
No.” He pushed himself up from the chair.

“
Rueben.” I was beginning to get desperate. It had been such a good idea, a solution to our problems.

“
I’ll be back when you’re ready to hunt.” He paused with the front door opened. “And it won’t be long.”

Chapter
Thirty-Eight

The next morning, the sky was overcast. It was the perfect day for how I was feeling–completely sorry for myself. I sat very still next to the window, listening to the sounds outside my apartment.

I had waited all day yesterday for Rueben to come back, but he never did. Reuben made me feel things about myself that I never had before. Maybe some of what he said was right. I needed to fend for myself, at least to some degree.

When Marcus came back for me, I would ask him to teach me how to hunt. At least I should be able to feed myself. Maybe he could even teach me to fight a little and read minds. I wanted to be able to do that.

Marcus had tried to teach me before, but I refused to listen. I had thought we would always be together. I didn’t think I needed to be able to fend for myself. Now I could see how wrong I was.

I ran my tongue over the protruded places on my gums. My teeth had begun to throb yesterday, and now they just hurt. My hands and legs were shaking, too, and I felt the moisture beading up on my forehead and upper lip.

I ran the back of my hand under my nose and wiped it off on my pants. I hadn’t bothered to change since yesterday. I didn’t care what I looked like, but more than that, I didn’t know if I had the strength to actually stand under a shower and then go through my suitcase to find clean clothes. Maybe later, I told myself. Right now, I needed sleep.

Almost as soon as I closed my eyes, I saw Marcus’s face. Not like it had been in London, though. He was smiling and laughing at something I had just said.

“
He was flirting with you,” I exclaimed with wide eyes.

“
He was just being nice.”

“
Marcus,” I rolled my eyes. “He was being more than just nice.”

“
I refuse to believe that humans would be open about something like that.”

“
Flirting?”

“
A man flirting with another man.”

“
We’re in Paris.”

“
It’s always…happened, I know. But, it’s always behind closed doors.”

I laughed at the way his eyes got wide. “Times are changing, my dear.”

“
I guess so.”

I laid down in the crook of his arm and put my head on his chest. I loved to hear the thumping of his heart. I loved just being close to him, feeling the warmth of his body against mine. It made me feel so…normal.

“
Claudia.”

I was confused by the tone of his voice. It sounded so pained, like he was in such agony. But how could he be? We were together and nothing was ever going to hurt us.

“
Claudia!”

“
What?” I looked up to see what could possibly be wrong with him. My blood ran cold at the sight.

Silango was there! He was perched on the side of the bed, close to Marcus’s ear. His long bony fingers were caressing his face, but his cold eyes were focused on me. He wasn’t speaking out loud, but his lips were moving very quickly.

In a fluid movement, Marcus flung himself out of the bed and across the room. He grabbed something off the dresser and turned back to me with an evilness that scared me. He was on me in an instant.

I tried to fight him off, but of course it was no use. A knife seemed to materialize in his hand and in the next second, he plunged it into my neck.

I bolted upright in the bed with a scream still in my throat. My ragged breathing seemed extra loud in the empty apartment. I wasn’t sure how long I had slept, but light was now pouring through the small window.

I rubbed furiously at my eyes, trying to forget all I had seen in my dream. I felt my neck just to be sure it hadn’t been real. I was still whole.

I rolled to my side and pressed the pillow tight against my ears. I wished I could just block the entire world out. Maybe I could just lay here and die.

How long could I live without feeding? I was already weak; it couldn’t take long. Marcus had told me it was dangerous to let myself get too thirsty, but he just didn’t want me to die.

Now that he had just left me all alone, what did he care if I lived or died? The painful truth was that he didn’t. My eyes stayed dry, I just didn’t have it in me to cry anymore.

The door creaked open, allowing a cool breeze into the small apartment, but I didn’t take the pillow off my face. Maybe if I was lucky, Rueben would think I was dead and just leave.

I heard the door shut and despite myself, I craned my ears to hear where he was going. He didn’t come directly to the bed like I thought he would.

He went, instead, to my still packed suitcase and unzipped the top. The clothes made a soft sound as they hit the floor. Was he throwing my clothes around?

I pulled the pillow from my head and half way sat up. He wasn’t looking at me; something in my stuff caught his interest. What the hell was he doing?

My eyebrows pulled close together in agitation, but I really didn’t want to fight with him again. He could have all my things if he would just get out.

I scooted along the edge of the bed until I got to the window. I pushed it open enough to let in some fresh air and slumped my shoulder against the wall.

If I just refused to respond to him, maybe he would go away faster. The zipper sounded again when Rueben stood back up. He deposited a wad of clothes in the chair on his way over to me.

“
What are you doing?” he asked incredulously.

“
Nothing,” I half snarled.

“
I can see that.”

“
Why did you come back? Just to make fun of me?”

He jerked his head back. “No.”

“
Then why?”

“
I came to check on you. Have you moved since last night?”

“
What do you care?” I moved my head to stare back out the window.

“
Claudia!”

The way he said my name made me look up at him. “What do you want, Rueben?”

“
I want to help you.”

“
Help me?” I scoffed. “By making me feel worthless?”

“
You’re not worthless, Claudia.” He sat on the edge of the bed, but didn’t scoot any closer to me. “Marcus should have taught you better.”

“
I didn’t want to learn,” I told him in a monotone.

“
He could have…”

“
No,” I shook my head defiantly. “I remember the first time I hunted.”

“
And?” He prompted when I again fell silent.

“
I killed a man. I can’t stop thinking about it.”