Lilah (25 page)

I explained what she had told me of the boy. Of
his misdemeanours of his failing health. ‘She thought she was doing him a
service.’

‘It is not true. Claude was a good boy and
would never harm anyone. She lied and I just can’t understand…’ She broke down
then, her legs buckling beneath her slender frame.

I took her in my arms and she did not resist.
The use of the boy still plagued me also.

‘Where is he now?’

‘In the house.
I have spent some time teaching him
about us. He is confused and does not like to take the lives of animals, let
alone humans. Does that sound fair to you? Yet if I am to believe Lewis, there
is nothing I can do!’

There
was
nothing. This was not the time
to tell her that letting Claude die was perhaps kinder than what she finally
accomplished. He was forced to be something his heart and soul did not desire.

She grabbed hold of me then fiercely. ‘You must
get me away from here. I do not belong. I will not be party to killing. This is
not
me
. Please tell me you haven’t lied about my
choices. I am a healer. How is it that you, as strigoi, are given the powers to
heal, yet you use your powers to take away the lives of others?’

‘Lilah…’

‘What have we here?’ Arianne had slipped into
the room unnoticed.

Lilah turned away to stand once again by the
fire releasing
herself
from my grip.

‘Come, come now my young friend. I am not much
changed.’

 ‘See if Claude agrees!’ she said,
bitingly.

‘Claude? I have done him a huge favour don’t
you think? He now has the gift of immortality. It could not have worked out
better for all.’

‘Get out. I do not know you anymore.’

‘Unfortunately I am here to stay so we will
have to learn to live together once more.’

Not if I can help it
. I could not usually read Lilah’s
thoughts but this message came through loudly perhaps for my benefit.

Lewis

The boy was proving adroit. He
studied the
witch speak
, carefully examining the words. I believed he
would grow into a fine and loyal strigoi although his youth did not yet give
him the confidence to hunt; killing animals and only those older drunken men
who did not put up much fight.

Lilah entered and looked concerned to find us
both there. She was not appreciative anymore. Very soon I would have to do
something about it. It was nearing her time for
the change
.

Claude rushed forward, pleased to see her. But
then as quickly as he entered her embrace he withdrew again. He had smelled her
blood and it confused him and Lilah knew this too.

Their relationship was damaged and the
hierarchy changed. Though Claude was two years younger, he was above her in
power and strength. Lilah noticed it too and drew back also.

‘Claude,’ I commanded. ‘Leave us now.’

Claude left the room avoiding eye contact with
Lilah. He was unused to these thoughts of blood.

‘As you can see, even with the rules, an
untrained strigoi may fall, making it unsafe even as a witch.’

‘Then let me go.’

‘I can’t do that.’

‘Gabriel promised.’

‘Gabriel makes many promises. There are girls
of all races throughout the world who have heard his silken tongue and believed
it.’

She did not flinch as I expected her to but her
chin tilted upward in defiance.

‘I know he meant those words when he said I
could go. It is you who tells lies and he believes
you
.’

‘Very interesting, considering that Gabriel has
been to see you so rarely. He is a fickle one and besotted with his new wife.’

I could see that these words had cut her and I
was both pleased and bewildered by her small frown. Her disinterest in me made
her even more intriguing.

‘So you see, he really doesn’t care what
happens. He knows the rules when he brings a witch here – that it is I
who determines whether they leave or stay.’

‘Or die.’ Her eyes narrowed and for the first
time I believed she hated me.

‘Oh, I see,’ I said struggling to hold her
gaze. Her eyes seemed to burn into my own. ‘The servants have been gossiping.’

She looked fearful then.

‘Don’t worry,
no-one
will be punished. You have seen where some non-conformists have been buried but
it not as simple and heartless as you think. Most of those were so weak that to
let them free again our position would be revealed, and we cannot allow that.
It is about continuation.’

‘So you killed them.’

‘What else was I to do?’

‘Then I guess I must have to die for I wish to
leave and as you can’t trust anyone…’

‘No. I cannot trust anyone.’

‘Then my fate is sealed as I will not be made a
strigoi.’

It had been many years since one had challenged
me with such effect. I was beginning to see that the shield that protected her
excessive moralistic ideals would never be broken, yet I could not let such
intelligence go to waste.

‘There is one thing I can offer you and you can
remain here as a witch still with the freedom I have granted you. If you were
to be my wife, and bear me a child then your life will be spared. For I see no
wish to destroy one who now carries the knowledge I entrusted to you.’

She seemed to tremble then and her eyes closed
involuntarily. Her legs looked like they might buckle beneath her.

‘I cannot…’

‘You do not have to decide straight away.’

Lilah

I ran blindly down the stairs and
into darkness, with the sleet blowing hard against my skin. I wore just a linen
dress without a coat but I did not care that anyone would find me or that I
might freeze to death. Inside the castle, my life was already over.

Without thinking I headed for the people I once
trusted. I had never seen their house before but my sense of direction had been
strengthened over time, as well as my ability to listen to the thoughts now in
my head that would guide me to them. Those noises meant nothing when I had
first arrived but now I carried enough skill to interpret them.

It was several hours before I reached their
house and looked through the window to see that Gabriel stood in the centre of
the room in meditation. His eyes opened suddenly wide. He had felt me coming.
He had been waiting.

I sank to my knees, the cold and wet seeping
through my bones. The door opened and I heard him step beside me in the frost.
I was only vaguely aware of his strong arms around me guiding me inside where a
fire burst forth suddenly from the hearth. Now that Arianne was a strigoi there
was no need for warmth.

He took me near the flames and shrouded me with
a blanket. He spoke my name with such tenderness and I felt his lips once again
on mine.

‘Gabriel…’

‘Hush. I know what Lewis has said to you. You will
come to no harm. I promised you that but I also know now that if I make you
mine he cannot touch you.’

‘But Arianne?’

‘She is not for me. We cannot be together when
I am in love with another…’

The front door slammed and I jumped up
suddenly. Gabriel, however, did not flinch.

‘Well, this is becoming quite a habit finding
my husband and my best friend together.’

‘You know that we are neither.’

‘Really, Gabriel?’ she asked bitterly. ‘I am so
sorry that you said that.’

‘It is over between us. I am meant for another.
You have always known that. You were alluring, my judgement clouded, but I can
see through you now.’

‘I have become a strigoi to be with you and
this is how you treat me?’

‘You used
me
.’

‘How wrong you are! You lured me from the
monastery. I loved you and still do, more than anything.’

She stood taller and more confident than ever,
her eyes appearing paler and glaringly deadly. It was clear from the plumpness
and her reddened cheeks that she had recently fed.

‘I cannot love someone who kills the innocent.’

‘I have made a few mistakes,
husband
,
but I am not the monster you paint me.’

Gabriel adjusted the blanket and led me towards
the door. I was inches from Arianne, her eyes boring into me. There was
something so cold about her gaze and I feared that she would grab me and break
my neck with her strength. Instead she let us pass and did not say anything
until we reached the door.

‘Well Gabriel, aren’t you going to tell her?’

He ignored this and spoke only to me. ‘We will
go to Lewis and I will declare our affection and then we must leave.’

Gabriel opened the door and a rush of cold air
blew in specks of snow. Arianne’s next words nearly went unheard as they
disappeared into the wind whistling noisily through the opening.

‘Did you know that Gabriel knew your father?’

Gabriel put a firm arm around me but I pressed
my hand against his chest to stop a moment.

‘Did you know he was part of the plan to
separate you from your mother?’

He looked at me pleadingly to leave with him
but Arianne’s words hung between us. I have thought since that it would have
been better if I had never turned back to hear more, to close the door on her
forever.

‘That’s right. We have been deceived by the man
who professes his love for both of us.’

Gabriel stepped forward then and I saw anger
spread across his face and something else. Regret. ‘It is not true. I did not
deceive…’

‘That it was Gabriel who left you there at the
monastery. And he has deceived your family. First that he convinced your father
you would be safe, he has betrayed your father by promising to watch you at the
monastery and keep you away from the castle.’

‘I had no choice. I guaranteed nothing. You
know that. She was forced out because of the resurrection and healing you
convinced her to do. And only then, after witnessing the abuse by men who lust
for power, did the castle seem the safest place. I tried to tell her father
that she belonged with her own kind but he did not believe me. I went along for
his peace of mind.’

‘You knew my father personally?’ I asked.

He paused slightly and dropped his eyes.

I sat down, my legs so weak I could barely find
the strength to stand. On the lounge beside me were the couple’s dress and
jackets discarded casually. The sight reminded me that they had shared much
together, and the stark realisation they were still man and wife.

‘My parents…’

‘Yes.’

‘Where are they?’

‘Far from here.’

‘Why?’

He sat down beside me closely and took my hands
in his, his expression pleading.

‘I promised your father that I would always
watch over you and I have honoured that. There is so much to tell you but now
is not the time. We will go somewhere else and I will explain everything.’

Blood tears pooled on the inside of his eyes
and I reached up to touch his face.

Arianne stepped forward frustrated that she was
momentarily forgotten.

‘It is not all, my young friend,’ she said.
‘Did you also know that Emil still lives, that Gabriel spirited you away under
false pretences?’

Gabriel stood up at this. ‘Arianne, we agreed for
her
sake!’

I was still not over the shock of learning of
my father and placed my hands to block my ears. Gabriel went to comfort me but
I pushed him away. It was then I felt a slighter arm around my waist, an arm
that had given me so much comfort as a young child and I turned and put my head
on her shoulder.

‘That’s right my dear,’ she said. ‘It is all
too much for you.’ She stroked my forehead as she used to, and suddenly I was
missing her and crying like I have not done before. She was the only mother I
ever knew.

‘Do not trust her,’ said Gabriel. ‘It is a
trick to make you hate me. She has her own designs you see, and she is not the
human you knew.’

Arianne pulled away from me and let out a
shrill laughter. I backed up suddenly frightened by these people, now
strangers.

‘You would trust this man who led you from your
one true love so that he could have you for himself. He wants us all to
himself, Lilah.’

‘That is a lie Arianne!’ He pushed her to one
side and she stumbled. The humiliation made her face contort with rage.

He held my wrist too tightly, afraid to let go.
With my other arm I covered my face to hide from him. ‘Lilah, please…’ he
whispered. ‘Everything I have done has been for you. I read Emil’s thoughts
that night I sent you into the house to Evie. His feelings towards you had
changed after his brother had…’ He could not finish the word. ‘He was going to
send you away. He would have waited a few days then paid you a small sum.
You had been touched by his brother
. He was not going to
keep you there. The only way for you to leave so that I could end all your hurt
was to tell you he was dead. I am not without heart. I am not meant to heal but
I kept him alive – I did it for you.’