Rose of Jericho (Lilith Adams Series Book 2) (10 page)

After a tense few seconds, Lilith returned to the couch, sitting on the opposite end from Chance. It wasn’t that she wanted to be as far away from him as possible, quite the opposite. Still, she needed to focus and more importantly, Cohen needed to focus. “Now that that’s out of the way. Do you think they want us to find the book you were looking for?”

“They already know where the book is. That’s not what they sent me after.” Lilith just cocked an eyebrow at him, gesturing for Cohen to continue. “They sent me after the cipher. From a distance, they’ve been able to study the book but it’s an enigma. No one can crack it.”

“Then how do they even know it’s something they want?”

Cohen looked over at Chance and for once the look wasn’t overtly hostile. “It was written in the 1400’s. The original author has been unknown for quite a long time, but it passed through a lot of hands. One of my relatives, Athanasius Kircher, received a sample of the text in 1639 from Georg Baresch, an obscure alchemist in Prague. See Athanasius was a Jesuit scholar from the Collegio Romano who had deciphered and published translations of Egyptian hieroglyphics. Baresch thought my relative could translate this mystery book and he wasn’t entirely wrong.”

Lilith settled into her corner of the couch. She wasn’t expecting a history lesson but as long as it was relevant she’d listen. Cohen paused, obviously waiting for a comment or some kind of argument. Lilith just nodded and gestured for him to continue. With a hesitant look, Cohen continued his surprisingly interesting story.

“Athanasius wasn’t able to decipher the entire script, but he knew it had nothing to do with the crude plant illustrations or cosmic diagrams inside. They were merely a distraction. It’s not known exactly what he found that warranted his actions, but he sent a letter to my grandfather explaining that he believed the piece referenced something dangerous about our kind. My grandfather instructed him to purchase the book, retrieve it any cost. Athanasius tried everything he could, but Baresch wouldn’t give it up. The family had him killed and Jan Marek Marci, the rector of Charles University in Prague, got his hands on the book. He sent the book to Athanasius but it never arrived. It just disappeared.”

Lilith found all the history intriguing, but not particularly helpful so far. She glanced over at Chance, who was being surprisingly quiet. There was a dawning look of recognition on his face that was completely unexpected. “The Voyruich Manuscript.” The hushed tone of his voice made the words seem even more ancient and mystical.

Cohen blinked and just stared at Chance for a moment as if seeing him for the first time. “Uh…Yes.”

“Wait. Why does that sound so familiar?” She knew she recognized that name, but she couldn’t place where she’d heard it before.

“Miriah had a dozen books on the manuscript in her home office and Duncan had a few as well. I was flipping through them while we were there. Two years ago, Gregor and I…” Chance paused with a hint of sadness before forcing himself to continue. “We visited the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale Museum and Gregor pointed it out to me. He told me a lot of the history on it, without the succubus angle of course. I thought it was just something that interested him.”

“Oh god. Duncan’s journals.” It was Chance’s turn to stare at her in confusion. Cohen seemed to just be relaxed in his seat watching the epiphanies like a tennis match. “In one of the journals that I read he kept mentioning a book he’d written in a complicated cipher a really long time ago. He said it kept circulating after it was stolen and he couldn’t get his hands on it. That it ended up in a museum. That has to be what he was talking about.”

“What did his journal say about it?” Cohen leaned against the arm of the chair. He was definitely down playing his curiosity.

“It’s not complete.” Lilith wracked her brain, trying to remember exactly what it had said. A lot had happened since then and she really didn’t think his ramblings about a mystery book were important at the time. “He tore some pages out, the ones that were too dangerous, and then he put them and the cipher some place safe. “ Lilith glanced up at Cohen, suspiciously. “How did you know Duncan was the author?”

“I didn’t. I was sent to Tennessee to talk to Duncan about it. I wasn’t given a source paper or anything. I was just given orders.”

There was nothing in his face to indicate he was lying, but Cohen was a master of masks. If it was a lie, there was no use pushing the issue. He’d just lie to them again. “Who gave the orders?”

“The council as a collective gave me my orders. If one of them knows more about it, it’s impossible to say which one. Theoretically, they share information openly with each other to arrive at plans of action. They are the oldest living members of the participating families.” It was completely unlike Cohen to just give up unsolicited information. Hopefully, this was him trying to cooperate.

“Wait. Participating?”

“Yes, Mr. Deveraux. There are some that chose not to take part in the organization of our kind. They believe that severing ties and hiding on their own is a safer course of action. The council keeps tabs and records on them, of course, to prevent incidents like, well, Ashcroft’s.”

Cohen turned his attention back to Lilith and she was relieved to see his eyes returned to a pleasant blue. “Ms. Adams, did those journals mention where he might have hidden the cipher?”

“No, but I think I might have a clue where to find it, and those missing pages.” Lilith remembered the loose papers from the tin she’d found in a secret compartment of her Uncle’s desk. She also remembered a filed down safety deposit box key. She might have been sitting on the answers the whole time. “Getting to it might be a problem though.” If the answers were where she left them, then they were in cold storage at Goditha Labs in Knoxville, Tennessee.

“If we can find it without my family getting wind of it, we might be able to figure out why they want this thing so bad. It might give us some leverage.”

“How in the hell are we supposed to do that?” Chance didn’t seem as quick to jump on the hope band wagon and honestly, she didn’t blame him. Ever since they got on that plane to Knoxville over a week ago, nothing had been exactly easy.

“I never claimed to be a religious man, quite the opposite, but you might consider praying for a miracle. Stranger things have happened.”

Chapter 8

A
demon advocating prayer wasn’t exactly comforting. Lilith leaned forward on the couch, desperately trying to make her brain add together the scattered facts in her head.  She looked up at the incubus in his polished navy blue suit, hoping for some help despite all her base instincts. Why did her head feel so scrambled right now? She’d been under life threatening stress for pretty much ten days now. That might have something to do with it. Maybe even vampires had their limits or maybe it was some other side effect of Cohen’s blood that she didn’t know about yet. “Do you have any more practical ideas that don’t include rosary beads and candles?”

Cohen’s cool blue eyes looked over her carefully for the first time since she’d slapped the attitude out of him. “Perhaps…” He seemed distracted from his thoughts, like somehow staring at her was more important. It was enough to make her feel a little self-conscious even though the look in his eyes seemed to be purely clinical. “Are you all right, Lilith? You… uh, you look a little pale.”

Lilith blinked at the question, especially since it was the same exact one Chance had just asked. “What is it with you two? I’m fine. It’s not like things have been exactly normal lately.”

Lilith rubbed at her cheeks in a moment of self-awareness. Great. Now they were both staring at her like she was talking in tongues. It all just made her little headache worse. “For fuck’s sake I just watched Farren execute my father. I think I’m entitled to a migraine.”

Cohen didn’t buy it for a second. His calculating eyes were still watching her every movement. She could sure use some of his fake southern charm right about now. More specifically the kind that was too polite to keep asking damn questions and staring at her like she was a lab experiment. “Something is wrong. This is not just stress.”

Thankfully, a knock at the door saved her from any further scrutiny. Cohen swiftly snatched up his little jamming device, clicked it off and tucked it in his pocket. He glanced over at Chance with a concerned look. “Keep an eye on her, Deveraux. Maybe she’ll tell
you
what’s wrong.”

As soon as Cohen disappeared into the hall, Chance slid across the couch and rubbed a hand over her back. “Lily, what’s going on?” Even through her suit jacket, his touch seemed to ease her aching head slightly. Maybe they were right. Maybe something was wrong. She rubbed at her temples at a sudden little spike of pain that seemed to take her breath. “I…don’t know.”

“When was the last time you fed?” As soon as the words left his mouth she felt like a colossal idiot. Of course. Why the hell hadn’t she thought of that? All the crap side effects that came with Cohen’s blood had affected her treatment schedule. Was the emotional feeding actually sustaining her? With a shock, she realized she hadn’t had a single drop of blood in days.

The thought terrified her on some level. Was she slowly losing a part herself, becoming less of a vampire? More importantly, would she even miss it? Being a vampire had never been a proud part of her life. It was just a health condition with a limited list of benefits. Despite her ambivalent feelings about her heritage, the thought of turning into something like Ashcroft was simply horrifying.

“I guess it’s been a little while. I can’t really remember.” She didn’t want to get into that discussion with Chance right now. They had bigger problems than her fears of slowly becoming a succubus.

“Would mine help? At least for now?” It was a valid question. Chance was a half-blood. His blood would have more functional hemoglobin than another full-blood’s. Theoretically it would help, but the thought just made her queasy.

“This isn’t some kind of bizzaro fantasy of yours is it?” She cracked a weak smile and peeked up at him. He didn’t look very amused. “Look, I appreciate the…offer, but the thought of that just grosses me out.”

“Uh, am I supposed to say thank you? Because that kind of sounded like an insult.” There was a definite degree of defensiveness in his voice mixed in with his usual smartass humor.

Lilith closed her eyes for a moment, just trying to think and finally sat back against the couch. “Chance, I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just…this isn’t some Hollywood fantasy. I don’t have any desire to try and hypnotize you and then suck blood from your neck in the throes of passion. I’ve never fed from a person before. That’s why we have the blood banks and the pills. You know all this.”

Chance lowered his head, fixing his eyes on her in serious determination. “I know and I laugh at those cheesy vamp moments, but you do need blood and you have those little fangs for a biological reason.”

“Chance, it’s not just the creep factor. I’ve never done it before. Despite what the movies like to show, veins and arteries are delicate. There is no way that a movie vamp with those huge ass fangs could puncture a major artery without tearing it apart. Even with our more modest fangs, it’s impossible for someone unpracticed like me to accomplish something that precise. It’s so incredibly dangerous. Even with the incubus blood, you could bleed out in mere minutes.” Lilith wrapped her arms around herself and shook her head. “I couldn’t risk hurting anyone like that, especially not you.”

“Lily, we have to figure this situation out and you are a crucial part of that. I don’t need you snapping and attacking someone, especially not one of them. I somehow doubt they’d be very forgiving.”

“Cohen’s family just abducted three vampires. I somehow doubt they are oblivious to what we need. Once he gets back in here, we’ll see what they have planned. Assuming they actually want our cooperation, they’ll have to take care of our basic needs. If not, then we’ll revisit this idea of yours, okay?”

Before Chance could say anything, Cohen returned with a woman trailing behind him. She was definitely petite, maybe five foot even with a willowy frame to match. Her deep black hair was gathered into an intricate arrangement of curls that cascaded freely down her slender back.

Her hairstyle might have been straight out of a Middle Earth movie, but her clothes screamed high fashion. She was sporting a modern black jacket and a vibrant green skirt that hugged her frail curves down to her knees. It looked like she’d be more at home in a red corset and purple gypsy skirt, but was over compensating to connect with the modern world with high end designer fashion. Her rounded face seemed pleasant and friendly, but then so had Cohen’s when Lilith first met him. Her eyes were an eerie marine blue that looked like the ocean in the Bahamas and held a lot more age than her youthful face.

“Mr. Deveraux, Ms. Adams, this is Luminita Dragomir.” Lilith watched Cohen carefully as he made the introductions. There was no hesitation in his voice. In fact, all his facial cues seemed to indicate that he was more relieved than anything else. When he looked back at Luminita, there was a look of kinship and love that people usually reserve for very close family. Reading people was habit, but Lilith really didn’t know why she bothered with Cohen. She was pretty positive that Cohen only showed her what he wanted to. Still, maybe there was some information to be gleaned even from that.

“Ah, you must be
Crin
.” Her voice was slightly deeper than Lilith had expected and her accent was very thick. It reminded her of those vampire movies set in Romania. She flashed a wide smile at Lilith and gracefully settled into the cream colored chair Cohen had been using.

“I’m sorry?” Lilith wasn’t sure about most of what she’d said, but she definitely didn’t understand that last word. Despite pop culture’s belief, not all vampires were from Transylvania and foreign languages weren’t just imprinted along with martial arts skills. It would be handy, but sadly it was pure fluff fiction.

The pale woman blushed and smiled apologetically. “
Crin
means Lily in my language. Cohen has spoken to me of you.”

Lilith glanced up at Cohen with a quizzical look that wasn’t exactly friendly. He was hovering behind Luminita’s chair and he definitely hadn’t missed her look. He simply shrugged nervously and focused his attention elsewhere.

Cohen’s guest definitely didn’t miss the awkward silence in the room or the seething tension coming from Chance’s general direction. “Did I misspeak?” Her rounded little face tilted in confusion. In that moment, she looked like a delicate elf wrapped up in futuristic clothing. “English is not my best.”

After a frozen moment, Lilith managed to flash a small smile. “My name is Lilith Adams. A few close people call me Lily so I can understand the confusion. What can we do for you, Ms...? Dragomir, was it?”

She nodded softly and her ebony tresses glittered in the light. “I am here for two purposes. One of those is to see what I can do for you.”

“Luminita sits on the council. She is... a close friend.” There was a weight to his words that implied a whole slew of things. Lilith was almost positive that this woman was Cohen’s inside contact. “She wanted to meet the two of you and determine how she can help.” Cohen’s look of relief made perfect sense now. Maybe they weren’t completely screwed after all. It would definitely be a welcome change to the recent litany of events.

The woman lifted a graceful hand to silence Cohen, but it held none of the anger or contempt that Farren had when he used the same gesture. It was hard to imagine a council where the two of them sat on equal ground. 

“First thing is first, Andrew.” Her blue-green eyes studied Lilith as if she could see something that no one else could. Lilith squirmed in her seat and rubbed at her arms under the close scrutiny. This whole routine of being the center of attention was starting to wear on her nerves. “The guard at the door has something she requires. Retrieve it.” Her quizzical eyes studied Chance next as Cohen silently walked back toward the hallway. Luminita seemed surprised by what she saw in Chance. “You are… different, are you not?”

“I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean.” Chance glanced at Lilith, hoping she might have a clue, but he was out of luck there. He nervously ran his fingers through his chestnut hair, still damp from the shower. Even with the growing migraine it was incredibly distracting.

“
Ce a-ti spus
, apologies. I am sorry. I did not explain well. Lilith is vampire. It is strong in her blood, but you…”

“I’m a half-blood. I don’t suffer the same needs but I don’t get the same benefits either.” There was a slight edge of bitterness that caught her attention. Lilith knew exactly what benefits he was talking about. Longevity. That had been one of Gregor’s many objections to their relationship. If they both managed to avoid being executed, he’d grow old and die before Lilith even started to look thirty. It wasn’t a thought that either of them wanted to dwell on, but it was the first time she’d really heard Chance come close to mentioning it.

“You had only one vampire parent?” Luminita seemed more interested in their species than Chance specifically. Lilith could understand the curiosity since she still didn’t know everything about their kind. Perhaps Luminita would answer the questions that Cohen deftly avoided if she knew a little more about vampires.

“I wasn’t aware of it, but yes.” His voice sounded slightly gruff and defensive. He didn’t really want to talk about it, but there was something about Luminita that just put people at ease or perhaps Chance had the same thought she did. Give a little to get a little.

“They did not tell you?” She leaned forward in the chair with genuine interest. It was purely academic. If it had been anything else, Lilith would have felt it. This was Luminita’s opportunity to glimpse into the life of a half-blood vampire. Lilith got the feeling that it was a fairly rare chance for her.

“No.” There were a million unspoken things weighing on him and it took him a moment to choose his words carefully. “They both died when I was in my teens. I didn’t know what was wrong with me until…” Chance paused and Lilith could see the pain in his green-flecked eyes before he continued.

“Gregor found me and he gave me a real life. He helped me to be more than the shadow of my parents.” There was a deep tension in his words when he mentioned his folks. Lilith knew that he hadn’t had a great relationship with them, but the flecks of contempt on his face made her realize that she didn’t really know how bad his life had been. Maybe he wasn’t the completely open book she thought he was.

Lilith curled her fingers over Chance’s knee in a reassuring moment and he slid his fingers over hers. There was a tiny spark, like a circuit completing, that made her feel better.

For the first time Lilith realized that they didn’t seem to hurt each other by drawing on the other’s strength. She had definitely drawn on him a lot in the past few hours and he didn’t seem weakened by it at all. It felt more like an even ebb and flow of energy. Distantly she wondered if it was because they both had Cohen’s blood inside them. The thought brought an odd mixture of relief that she wouldn’t hurt him and fear that they were somehow changed forever.

“
Ce frumos
!” Luminita’s ocean shaded eyes widened in surprise. “Andrew told me what happened, but he did not mention this.” Her petite hands rubbed together anxiously. This definitely was not a happy surprise and Lilith’s breath caught in her throat. This woman may have been Cohen’s ally but how loyal was she? Enough to overlook something that Farren would have instantly killed them for?