Always (44 page)

“
But, why keep you alive here? I mean, if he wanted you dead–why not just do it?”

“
I’m sure he was trying to lure you here.”

“
I didn’t even know you were here, or I would have come.” I caught my lip between my teeth. “How could Marcus do this?”

She looked at me with a grimace that further distorted her face. “Silango.”

“
Why does Silango want us dead?” I just couldn’t understand what he had done so wrong to him. We never even saw him.

“
I don’t think it’s him who wants us dead.”

“
Yes it is. Rueben said he ordered Marcus to kill us.”

“
But I think he got his orders from someone else.”

“
Who?” My eyebrows drew down darkly over my eyes.

“
Neleh.”

“
Neleh?” This wasn’t the first time I had heard that Neleh was probably behind this whole thing. “I don’t understand. Who exactly is Neleh?”

“
Neleh is,” she paused, trying to come up with the right word, “the leader of all vampires.”

My eyes narrowed. “All vampires?” She nodded, but her forehead was lined. “I thought Kiera was.”

“
Kiera created Neleh.”

“
So that made Kiera in charge. Neleh had to do what she says. Kiera wouldn’t…”

“
Kiera felt guilty for changing Neleh, so she ordered her guard to protect Neleh and do as she tells them.”

“
Kiera still wouldn’t let her kill us. Marcus said the Letrells are protected.”

“
They are–and everything they created. But, Silango doesn’t answer to Kiera.”

“
Marcus told me all of this, but he didn’t say anything about Neleh. Was she in the war, too?”

“
I’m not sure when Neleh was created. But now, Neleh loves power. She has almost all of it; because of her guard, there aren’t many who will defy her.”

“
Except the Letrells.”

“
Because of Kiera’s order and also because she doesn’t control the guard that controls the Letrells.”

I sat back, beginning to understand at last. Sylvia sat back again, her energy spent.

“
Have you heard from David at all?” she asked with half closed eyes.

How often had David crossed her mind in all this time? The nights when she only had her thoughts to keep her company, she must have wondered where David had gone. When she had thought she was going to die, she must have longed to see him just one more time.

“
I haven’t heard from him at all,” I regretted having to tell her.

She snorted softly. “That’s what Marcus told me, too.”

“
Was he,” I shrugged a little, “you know, was he nice to you?”

“
He didn’t talk to me very much. He tried to stay away.” I nodded, knowing that any tears now would only make me weak. “I’ve known Marcus for a long time. He’s so different now. You can hardly recognize him.”

“
I saw him.”

“
Silango has ordered him to do things before and he was always mad, every single time; but he always just did as he was told. This time, he is trying to fight Silango’s order. He can’t do it, Claudia. It’s driving him crazy.”

“
It’s going to end: soon.”

“
The only way to end it is for Marcus to kill me and you.”

“
Or,” I said more loudly than I intended, “I could kill Silango.”

Her head snapped backwards in her surprise. “What did you say?”

“
Don’t tell me you haven’t thought about it.”

“
Not ever seriously.”

“
What choice do I have?”

“
When Marcus comes to kill me, you can run.”

“
And I’ll be running the rest of my life.”

“
Then stay here and die.”

I had no intention of doing that, either. I had to get Sylvia out before Marcus came back.

“
We have to get out of here.”

“
There’s no point,” she said dejectedly.

“
Yes there is.” I grabbed at her arm, but she barely responded. “We have to at least try to get away. We can’t just lay here and let him kill us.”

“
I’ve tried to get away.”

“
So, try again.”

“
He always brings me back here. If not him, then one of his…partners.”

“
Partners?” I stopped moving for a second. “What partners?”

“
Other warriors of Silango.” she shrugged as if it didn’t matter.

“
Is that who did that to your face?” I was relieved to know that Marcus hadn’t hurt her so badly and then left her here to die.

“
Yeah. The last time I tried to escape. That’s when they stopped feeding me as often. Now they just keep me weak, only giving me enough to keep me alive.”

The coldness in her voice disturbed me. What had they done to her? “Well, I’m here now. Between the two of us, we’ll be able to get away, I’m sure of it.”

She made no attempt to move as I scrambled to the door first. I tried the latch, but almost immediately I heard a low growl outside of the door. I looked back at Sylvia, but she only raised one eyebrow.

I went to the window, but I didn’t try to open it. I didn’t want any of the warriors to come any closer. I needed to figure out a plan first.

“
They’re still out there, aren’t they?”

“
Yeah.”

“
How many?”

“
Half a dozen, maybe.” She leaned her head against the dirty wall.

I knew I wouldn’t be able to fight six warriors by myself, and Sylvia didn’t look like she was going to be any help. How were we going to get away? I had to think of something, and fast, before Marcus came back.

“
What are we going to do?” I whispered after I fell back to my knees beside Sylvia.

“
We’re going to die.”

“
Don’t say that.”

“
Marcus is going to kill us.”

“
He won’t.” I denied it even though I knew it was the truth.

“
He won’t be able to stop himself.”

“
He hasn’t done it yet,” I pointed out.

“
He’s been fighting it for too long,” she said sadly.

“
He’ll keep fighting it, Sylvia, for as long as he needs to. And then I’ll… I’ll do what I need to do.”

“
You really think you can kill a guard,” she sneered. “You’re a third generation, Claudia.”

“
I’ll do what I need to do,” I repeated through clenched teeth.

“
And he’ll do what he needs to do.” She nodded towards the door.

It shocked me to see that it had opened without me realizing it. There in the doorway stood Marcus, and he was glaring at us.

Chapter
Forty-Five

I could only stare in open-mouthed horror at the man I had once known better than my own reflection. It was clear that I had only seen what I wanted to see in the alley, because the man standing in front of me now was barely recognizable.

His hair blew wildly around his unshaven face. I knew he didn’t age, but he looked years older. Deep lines were etched around his eyes and mouth, suggesting that he didn’t smile much anymore.

My heart was already broken into a million pieces, but seeing him like this was like the final blow. Without my permission, tears escaped my eyes and slipped down my face.

“
You’re crying?” he sneered at me.

“
I’m not crying.” I sniffed softly.

He laughed low in his throat. “Are you afraid?”

“
A little,” I admitted.

“
You should be.”

“
You’ve been watching me,” I accused.

He didn’t try to deny it. “Yep.”

“
So you have always known where I was.”

“
Does that surprise you?”

“
It surprises me that you didn’t come sooner.” He only grunted in response. “You’ve had Sylvia here the whole time?”

His eyes swung to where Sylvia still sat, slumped against the wall. “She would have been kept more comfortable if she hadn’t tried to escape so many times.”

“
What should she have done? Laid back and let you kill her?” I yelled up at him.

He didn’t answer in any words that I could understand. He growled fiercely into the wind and slammed his open palm against the door jam. The shed shuddered under the onslaught.

“
So, what are you going to do now?” I probably didn’t want to know the answer.

“
You already know.”

“
Where’s Rueben?”

“
He’s not here.”

“
Did Silango send him away?”

“
How should I know?” he snapped.

“
He just disappeared without a single word.”

I tried to get to the window before he noticed. Maybe I could get away. Even if I couldn’t get Sylvia out with me now, Marcus would probably follow me and she could get away then. I just hoped that she had the strength left to get away. She was stronger than I was at one time, but that was before Silango and his warriors had half-starved her.

I didn’t want to leave her there, but I couldn’t see how I had much choice. I wouldn’t be able to get past Marcus to get to the door and only one of us would fit through the window.

If only I could tell her my plan and make sure she was ready to run. I glanced over at her, but she wasn’t looking at me. She wasn’t looking at anyone. Her head was hanging low, almost resting on her chest.

Was it possible that she had fallen asleep? Now? Rueben had told me that if you get too thirsty, you get extremely tired. Sometimes, you can hardly even force yourself to stay awake. But to fall asleep now?

Marcus slumped into the shed, his bulk filing up the space around us. He was muttering to himself, but I couldn’t understand what he was saying. I wondered if he even realized he was talking out loud.

My opportunity to get away from him was slipping away. I scooted backwards another inch. His eyes swung over to freeze my breaths. He regarded me coldly with his unfamiliar eyes.

“
Where do you think you’re going, Claudia?” he snarled at me.

“
Nowhere.”

“
That’s right. There is nowhere to run.”

“
I…uh…” I swallowed noisily.

“
We’ll catch you and drag you back here.”

Were there really so many warriors that were meant to kill us? “Silango doesn’t trust you to do the job yourself,” I spoke braver than I actually felt.

“
He thought I might be reluctant to…do it.” I was surprised that he admitted the truth. “But, I’ve been biding my time, waiting and watching.”

“
I know this isn’t you.” I was desperate to get through to him. He was in there somewhere.

He smiled, revealing all his teeth. It wasn’t an amused smile, though. The sight gave me goose bumps. “Then who am I?” he taunted.

“
Silango has gotten in your head. He’s made you…”

“
Crazy.” He tilted his head to one side with another crazy grin.

“
Marcus, please just let me go,” I half sobbed. “Tell him I got away.”

He turned to glare at me, but made no move to let me get past him. “I can’t,” he finally said.

It was the first time since he opened the shed door that I heard a little of the real Marcus. I licked my bottom lip quickly. “We’ll run.”

“
You can’t run fast enough, or far enough. I’ve tried. It’s not…” he sucked in a ragged breath, “It’s not possible.”

“
I can…”

“
No,” he cut me off sharply.

He swung his arm around then, revealing an axe that he was holding. I hadn’t seen it when he came in; where had it come from? And more importantly, what was he going to do with it?