Blood Dark (28 page)

K
ane paced
the room as he let each of them tell their story in turn – Jask, Sophia, Eden and Jessie putting together the pieces as Caitlin sat there unnervingly still, absorbing every last detail.

In the end he knew he had no choice: the raid was inevitable. What he needed to know was that he wasn’t needlessly inciting the war. He needed to know Caleb was the one; that the sacrifice was worth it.

What he needed, what they all needed, was for Caitlin to shadow read Jessie so they knew for sure. And a shadow read was something none of them could force her to do.

As the disclosure finished, as silence descended whilst Caitlin was left to process everything she had been told, the atmosphere around the table was as weighted as the night sky beyond.

He leaned back against the windowsill, his arms folded.

Parts of her may have hated him then, but if she was the Caitlin he had fallen for – the Caitlin who had stood up for his sister, for him, who had exposed the corruption in the TSCD simply because it was the right thing to do – she would feel compelled to help them. If she understood just how deep that pending darkness over Blackthorn could penetrate, she would
have
to help them.

And he finally had no choice but to let her in.

‘So you all think Caleb is the prophesied vampire leader – that he’s the chosen one.’ Her gaze rested on Jessie. ‘And you’re the envoi who can confirm it, which is why Sirius sent Eden here to find you.’ She turned her head to Eden. ‘And you now have angel blood in you because of Jessie here which, incidentally, is what you think is fuelling Sirius’s secret army which had a practice run on Jask’s pack.’ She looked at Jask. ‘Your pack is at risk of starting to morph in the next thirty-six hours if you don’t get the supplies from Caleb while, at the same time, you’re sleeping with an Alliance member who tried to kill him and his brother.’ Her attention switched to Sophia. ‘An Alliance member who also happens to be the serryn that is needed for Caleb to finish his transformation. The serryn who acquired that serrynity because it transferred from her sister who may or may not have fallen in love with Caleb, which may or may not be how Leila lost it in the first place.’ She looked across the room at Kane. ‘And all this time, you’ve been intent on stopping this vampire leader rising to supremacy because you knew about this pending devastation for which you now believe Sirius is the catalyst.’ She glanced around the table again. ‘But first you’re all trying to stop this fourth species apocalypse that will signify the end of the world as we know it regardless of whether the Tryan rises or not.’

Eden shrugged. ‘Never a dull moment in Team Blackthorn.’

‘And you want me to read Jessie and confirm whether it is Caleb. If it is him, then what?’

‘Leila needs to kill Caleb,’ Jask said. ‘It’s the only way to close the dimension.’

Caitlin cast a glance around the table again before her eyes locked on Kane. ‘You want to bring them
together
?’ Her attention snapped back to Eden. ‘Which is why you’re involved.’

‘We
have
to do this, Caitlin,’ Eden said.

She looked back at Kane. ‘And you’re
seriously
okay with your pending leader being killed off before he’s even begun?’

‘We have no choice,’ Kane said.

She sank back in her chair. She folded her arms, her head lowered.

‘My sisters are in that building,’ Sophia said. ‘All I have left of my family. And Leila could be right down the corridor from the vampire intending to kill her, to kill me, to kill as many humans as he can. Sirius is no better. In fact, he’s worse. He doesn’t even have respect for the lives of his own. You know his plans. You know we have to stop him. But we
have
to close this dimension first – and there is only one way to do that.’

‘Why the hell didn’t you take Caleb in while you had a chance?’ Caitlin asked. ‘Before the TSCD even got to him.’

‘And incite a civil war and give Sirius exactly what he wanted?’ Jask remarked.

‘But if any of this is true, why did Caleb let Leila go in the first place?’

‘We don’t know,’ Kane said. ‘We were hoping to bring her back so we could find out. But there is a chance that even he doesn’t know what he is.’

As her gaze lingered on his, he saw her understanding of the brevity of it all. More, he saw her finally understanding him – about what he had been caught in the midst of. And he saw no anger, no resentment, just a glimmer of pain that he’d never been able to trust her enough.

And though he didn’t want to confront it, the hurt he saw in her hurt him. She had been right: she could have done no more. The fact that they had been left in ruin was down to him.

She dropped her gaze to the table. With a heavy sigh she looked back up. ‘Not wanting to insult anyone here but can I ask what happens if Leila doesn’t
want
to kill Caleb?’

‘She knows he’s pursuing me,’ Sophia said. ‘I’m not saying it’s going to be easy but I know she’ll do whatever it takes to protect me and Alisha. Whatever happened between her and Caleb, her loathing for vampires still runs deep. She lost our mother to one. She isn’t going to lose all she has left of her family to another. And if she knows of the wider consequences, like you do now, she’ll do what it takes – I guarantee it.’

Caitlin held the knuckles of her right hand tight to her lips, her head lowered. Eventually she nodded. ‘Okay.’

Kane felt a surge from somewhere deep within his chest – a surge of relief, of pride in her resolve. He had to force his head to overrule his heart’s need to rush over and take her in his arms.

Because she was not part of the team: she was the peripheral necessity.

And the surge of regret overwhelmed the relief because, once she read Jessie, there would be no going back. By helping them, she was sealing her own fate.

She would know what it was to hate him – and he was going to have to allow it to happen.

‘But we’ll need to go somewhere quiet,’ she said, looking to Jessie. ‘Alone. I won’t be able to concentrate with anyone watching me.’

‘You’ll see a symbol,’ Kane said. ‘I’ll want you to draw it for me when you’re done.’

Her gaze snapped once more to his … eyes that penetrated right to his core. ‘To prove I’m telling the truth?’

‘Why else?’ came his painfully curt reply.

C
aitlin stared at her
, though she tried not to. She couldn’t help it. It was more than the vibrancy of Jessie’s violet eyes; there was something so different about her compared to those she usually read.

‘Your kind has always been heralded as one of the myths,’ Caitlin said.

‘And now you know why our camouflage has remained so important.’

‘But Sirius has discovered you.’

‘And we’ll find out how.’

Caitlin scanned the dim, cell-like room, a glimmer of moonlight barely igniting the only high window six-feet away, a single candle to her right giving off a subtle amber glow. ‘Have you been shadow read before?’ she asked, meeting Jessie’s gaze again.

‘Not that I know of.’

‘But you know how it works?’

‘Kane explained.’

‘It’s invasive, Jessie. There are things I’ll see and things I’ll know.’

‘I have nothing to hide.’ She hesitated for a moment. ‘But I was in con territory for a long time. There are things I saw …’

‘I’m an effective skimmer. It’s how I do my job well. I don’t get absorbed or diverted. I don’t pry and I don’t linger. Think of it like walking through a crowd and focusing on only one person ahead of you. You’ve given me enough clues of what I’m looking for to keep things linear in there. The biggest advantage is that the visions were recent. That means they should be at the forefront of your thoughts so I shouldn’t need to venture too far. As soon as I’ve seen what I need, I’m out, okay?’

Jessie nodded.

‘Just to warn you though that sometimes it can take a while to find my way around at first,’ Caitlin added. ‘It’ll feel a little like having someone stood next to you while you’re dreaming. It might be unsettling but the more you relax, the quicker it can be.’

‘Will you be able to give me answers about what happened to me before I was bound? Why I was bound?’

‘I don’t know. From what you explained, if your memory was wiped, then no. I can only access what you do remember, what’s there in your conscious mind as well as your subconscious mind. But if I do come across something, will you want to know?’

‘Too right I want to know.’

Caitlin broke a smile. ‘Okay,’ she said. ‘Are you ready?’

Jessie nodded. ‘Let’s do this.’

Sat on their haunches, knee to knee, Caitlin took hold of Jessie’s wrists, her thumbs immediately locating her pulse points. She steadied her breathing as she always did before a reading. Closing her eyes for a few moments, she focused on the coolness of Jessie’s skin beneath her own.

The second Jessie’s pulse arrived, the sensation enveloped her like a warm tide. She opened her eyes to look into Jessie’s, could feel the drag of the current beneath her fingers.

It was usually a battle with those who didn’t want to be read, but the transition was surprisingly smooth with a willing participant.

Like walking amidst a myriad of film snippets on screens all around her, Caitlin began to wander up and down stairs, through doorways, arriving on various levels, searching for images of Leila, the one certainty in the prophecy –
if
they were right.

The most recent images were of Eden – intimate images that Caitlin brushed past and sidestepped. Others carried darker hues, some startling her as figures appeared from behind others – cons, no doubt, from the markings on their arms. There was a van, a corrugated floor, noise, explosions, the ground vibrating beneath her.

The dark corridors were always the worst: the memories that were kept tucked away in recesses or behind closed doors. And there were plenty of those for Jessie.

But then she saw Leila running past. And, with her, she brought a tirade of fragmented information that Caitlin would have to try and meld together into some semblance of order.

She saw Leila sat on a stone table, her toes coiling over the seat, wearing only a dress, or maybe a negligee.

Red.

But one thing kept appearing: some kind of symbol, flashing up between images like some 3D stamp coming towards her – a symbol through the rain, through battles, through flames, screams and cries the backdrop so loud that Caitlin wanted to retract just so she could cover her ears from the pain.

There were creatures, indefinable creatures large and small dominating everywhere she looked, trampling and tearing and destroying. Burning buildings lay vacant and decaying beneath a black smoke sky. Chain-link fences were flattened, potholes larger than cars filled the street. There was a child’s shoe at her feet: a small, pink shoe laying in a murky puddle. A dark mist was creeping towards it: a dark mist that was encompassing everything.

And the darkness became intense, blinding.

Amidst a black mist, she saw the back of a male figure.

She saw Leila on her knees at his feet.

She saw the mark on his shoulder.

She approached tentatively to get a closer look. To get as close as she dared.

The symbol started to blaze: the orb crossed with a sword, both entwined in thorny black vines.

But there was something stood beside the male figure that distracted her – a shadow of something, or someone that chilled Caitlin even more.

A shadow that felt strangely familiar.

She felt a shiver of unease.

Caleb’s attention snapped over his shoulder to hers as if sensing her presence.

As his green eyes locked on hers, the impact was like being punched in the chest, such was her breathlessness. Caitlin flinched, jolted back, releasing Jessie.

She felt Jessie grabbing her arms to stop her falling.

‘Caitlin?’

Her voice was distant, despite her proximity.

‘Caitlin?’ she asked again, sounding closer. ‘Caitlin, are you okay?’

And she was back. Back in the room. Back in the present.

‘Caitlin?’ Jessie asked again.

Caitlin nodded. ‘I’m fine.’

‘Did you see him? Did you see who it was?’

‘Yes,’ Caitlin said. ‘I know who it is.’

C
aitlin glanced
over her shoulder as she heard familiar footsteps behind her. Kane didn’t close the door behind himself but his presence pulled the room inwards anyway.

She folded her arms as she turned to face him, the blood-curdling images she had witnessed inside of Jessie’s shadow remaining the cause of the tension in her chest. ‘How much do you know?’ she asked. ‘How much of that prophecy are you aware of?’

‘I know more than I care to,’ he said, handing her the pencil and paper.

‘Kane, it’s horrendous.’

The look in his eyes negated the need for words.

‘For how long?’ she asked. ‘How long have you known?’

For the second time in as many days, she saw him hesitate. ‘We’re born with it. It’s our job to know everything about our kind.’

The urge to reach for him almost overwhelmed her, but she made herself hold back. Everything in his composure told her this was official business, and he was there to conclude it.

‘When you said reading you would kill me, it wasn’t just so I wouldn’t know about the cure, it was so I wouldn’t see the prophecy too, wasn’t it?’

‘Reading me without my consent
will
kill you, Caitlin. I never lied about that. A master vampire equally has to obey our lores to keep as much as possible to ourselves.’

‘You prod the tip of the snow and the avalanche comes with it, right?’

‘Something like that.’

She wandered over to the wall and sat down against it, drew her knees to her chest so she could rest the paper on them. ‘They never talked about you being a master vampire in the TSCD,’ she remarked, drawing the orb. ‘Your kind were always proclaimed so rare, even a myth like the angels. I mentioned it to Max once and he dismissed it like it was irrelevant, but they knew, didn’t they?’ She looked back up at him. ‘They all knew. They just refused to put you on that pedestal.’

‘None of that matters now.’

But it did matter. With what she was building up to suggesting to him, it mattered deeply.

Caitlin drew the sword across the orb. ‘Who else knows what this symbol means?’

‘Only the Higher Order. Or that’s the way it should have been.’

‘So no one can imitate it?’

‘So as not to waste time on false prophets. Only the chosen one, the selected one, can lead them to victory. That’s how prophecies work. A false chosen one wouldn’t be able to guarantee a win. And there would be no second chances in the face of failure, not the way this system is set up.’

She drew the black thorny vine entwined around it before handing the completed symbol to him.

His subtle sigh told her it was confirmation enough that she’d seen the truth.

‘They’re blackthorn thorns on the symbol, aren’t they?’ she said. ‘That’s why you came here.’

He folded the piece of paper in half, tucking it into his back pocket.

‘But this can’t be the only Blackthorn globally,’ she said, ‘so how did you know here was the right place?’

‘I didn’t. I’m not the only master vampire, Caitlin. We might be rare, but there are enough of us to cover all bases. I replaced the one who had been here before me. The rest is down to the luck of the draw.’

‘You didn’t
choose
to come here?’

‘Like I said, I’m no hero. So is it him, Caitlin? Is it Caleb?’

Her gaze lingered on his. She knew the consequences of the truth. She knew the implications if she couldn’t persuade him to act otherwise.

‘Yes,’ she said. ‘It’s Caleb.’

Without another word he crossed the room to the door.

‘If I’d left the VCU, would you have let me in?’ she called after him.

He stopped. He glanced over his shoulder at her. ‘Honestly? I don’t know.’

‘We never really stood a chance, did we, Kane? The division, the suspicion, was always going to be there.’

He kept his head lowered for a moment before finally glancing over his shoulder again. ‘We tried though, huh?’

The conclusiveness in his tone was enough to necessitate her to blink away tears. Her pulse raced as it always would for him, but this time her heart’s beats felt more like gasps in desperate need of its survival.

She hesitated before saying it. ‘I just wish we’d been strong enough together that you could have confided in me. So I would have understood. So I could have been there.’

He turned to face her side-on. ‘I didn’t need you to be there, Caitlin.’ He said it with vehemence, but his eyes reflected a contradictory truth before he stepped back over to the door.

‘You need me now though. More than ever,’ she said.

He rubbed his hand across his jaw before turning to face her again.

‘You’d be a fool to raid the TSCD, to start this war, and you know it, Kane. Whereas I can get Leila to Caleb with minimal suspicion raised.’

His smile was fleeting. ‘I don’t think so,’ he said, his tone definitive.

As he turned away, Caitlin stood.

‘So you lock me in here instead? You throw away the key to the only one who can find out from Caleb where the rest of the supplies for Jask’s pack are? Time is ticking for them, Kane. For your friend. That half-dosage might be curbing things for now but it isn’t going to be enough once that moon is full force.’

Kane’s hand tightened on the door.

‘Not only can I find out about the supplies, Kane, I know where Leila is. I can explain everything to her without anyone suspecting. I can get her to Caleb.
And
I can get her and Alisha out with a good enough plan and some back up.’

Turning to face her fully this time, brow furrowed, he folded his arms before he raked her swiftly with his gaze.

‘If I present to Caleb everything I presented to you about what I believe happened that night of the assassination,’ she added, ‘let alone if I tell him that I have Leila in the building, he’s going to know he’s screwed. He’s counting on walking free in the next twenty-four hours – I’m the one who can change that.’

‘You’re suggesting you
threaten
Caleb Dehain?’

‘I’m suggesting I bargain with him: I keep my mouth shut if he tells me the location of the supplies. I certainly think he’ll believe me more than capable of shadow reading him for their location if not. And if he does have any inkling of what he is, I’m guessing a shadow read is something he’s going to want to avoid at all costs.’

Kane studied hers in the passing seconds. ‘And why would you do any of this?’

‘After what I’ve just seen? After two encounters with the fourth species in as many days?’

Kane shook his head slightly. He rested his hands low on his hips. ‘So you’re suggesting I let you back in there with all you now know?’

‘I’m your best chance, Kane. I’m no use trapped in these four walls.’

He tongued his incisor as he stepped up to her. ‘So what’s this in exchange for? Your freedom?’

‘Whatever you think of me, Kane, whatever has happened between us, I care about this locale. I exposed the TSCD
because
I care about this locale. How we feel about each other is irrelevant. What matters is that I believe you. I believe them. And I believe the only way we’re going to stop this is by working together. If you want to save Blackthorn, let me help.’