The Den of Shadows Quartet (32 page)

“What’s up?”

She was aware that she looked very different than when they had last spoken. Her black jeans and white shirt were plain, not exactly her style, but she wore them because she planned on visiting someone who wasn’t fond of colors. Her leather jacket covered her arms. She had not bothered to replace the bandages after last night. Her blond hair was down, slightly wild, stirred up by her running to the parking lot. Her eyes smoldered with intensity and purpose.

“I need to talk to your sister.”

“Not likely I told you already, Kristin doesn’t talk to anyone. She barely even
sees
anyone anymore.”

Sarah leaned back against his car door, and repeated herself. “I need to talk to Kristin, and I’m pretty sure she’ll talk to me.”

He snorted. “I’m not bringing you to her. If she notices you at all, she’ll just freak out.”

“Robert —”

“Leave me alone, okay?” he snapped. “I get it. I’m not as … important … as you are. I’m human, yeah, fine. I talked to your mother, and she made that quite clear. Now leave me alone.”

“No,” she answered calmly. She felt a little guilty about sending this human to her mother, but he had received no colder welcome than any other hunter had. “I need to talk to Kristin, and I thought it would be more polite to ask than to break into your house.”

This time he tried to muscle past her, pushing her to the side. He was bigger than she was, but he hadn’t counted on her strength; his shove didn’t even knock her off balance.

“Robert …,” she said, trailing off. There was only one way to get his attention.

Show-and-tell. She shrugged off the leather jacket and watched Robert’s eyes widen at the sight of her fresh wounds. “I know a lot more about him than you do. I’ve fought him twice, and I know he plans to try to kill me soon. I need to know what Kristin knows, and if she knows some way to hurt him.”

Robert hesitated, then stepped back reluctantly. “Fine.” He got in his side of the car and reached over to unlock the passenger-side door. “I can’t guarantee she’ll talk to you, but if you think she can help you get that monster …” He trailed off. “Get in the car.”

T
HOUGH THERE WAS COLOR
in it, Robert’s house seemed bleached of life.

“Kristin’s room is upstairs,” Robert said quietly, and led Sarah up the blue-gray carpeted stairs. Just outside his sister’s door, he spoke again. “If you can help her, or get her to help you, fine. But Kristin … isn’t all there. She probably won’t even notice you. Don’t bully her — she doesn’t need any more abuse.”

Kristin was dressed in a long white nightgown with a high collar. Her hair had been dyed black, though the natural brown showed for about an inch at the roots.

The room was devoid of even gray — black paint covered every spot that might have been colored, and flaked off the handle of the hairbrush Kristin was using.

Nikolas’s house had been just as colorless, but that had been neat, artistic somehow — this was just sick.

“Kristin, I need to talk to you.” The girl didn’t look up, but continued brushing her hair. “Kristin?” Still
there was no reaction from the girl. “I need to talk to you about Nikolas.”

The brush paused.

“Kristin …” The girl returned to brushing her hair, and Sarah sighed.

Sarah knelt, moving the marks on her arms into Kristin’s line of sight, and finally the girl looked at her.

“He
sent you?” she asked, and the hope in her eyes was strong.

There was pain in Sarah’s voice as she answered, “No. But I need to talk to you about him.”

“I … I don’t know much. It was only one party —”

“Just tell me what happened there.”

“I don’t —” She looked at her brother and shivered as her eyes fell on his washed-out blue shirt; he took it off, throwing it from the room.

“Better, Kristin?”

She nodded slowly and Robert left to get a different shirt.

“This girl Heather invited me to the party. She said the people were cool, and the music was awesome, and the guy she was going with was completely hot … which was strange, cause Heather is so cold, not really caring about anything …”

Sarah choked back her revulsion. The Heather whom Kristin was talking about was probably the one Sarah had seen at Nikolas’s bash, asking Kaleo to bite her. What kind of human invited other, defenseless humans into that kind of place?

Kristin had trailed off. “Tell me about the party” Sarah prompted, and Kristin nodded.

“The house … there was so much color in it, like walking into a kaleidoscope … one room was all red … it scared me …”

“Was Nikolas there?”

“The people … it was strange, the groups. Some of them were like me. They didn’t seem to know what was going on, really, and the house unnerved them a bit. Others were like Heather. They had connections. And others, so detached, so …” She shook her head, unable to find the description she was looking for.

“And then there was
him
, Nikolas …

“He was so beautiful, completely in contrast with everything else … his skin was so pale, and he was wearing all black … beautiful. He asked me my name and I told him it was Christine … he didn’t like that. He didn’t say anything, but I could tell.”

Christine … did she remind Nikolas of the Christine who had hurt his brother? Had some slight nuance of expression been so important that the girl now refused to respond to her real name?

“But he asked me to dance, and I thought I might just
die
, because he was
so
hand some and … unearthly. I’d say like an angel but he wasn’t at all, he was like … I don’t know … seductive, just by
existing
.”

Kristin sighed, then continued. “After the dance he held me in his arms a minute longer, and I remember … I remember his lips on my throat and I just
relaxed
, because it felt so good …” She gestured to the marks on her arms. “I don’t remember when he made these … they didn’t hurt …” She paused.

“And then?” Sarah said, and the girl blinked.

“No, I don’t want to talk anymore.”

“You started telling us, Kristin — you have to finish,” Sarah said, meeting her eyes. She wasn’t as good as the vampires at influencing human minds, but Kristin’s defenses were weak.

Kristin nodded. “He … he didn’t really take much blood. I remember not wanting him to stop when he pulled away, because it felt so good …”

Robert made a sickened sound, but Kristin didn’t notice as she went on. “And he said … he said, ‘I want to make you mine.’ And I said yes and yes was all I could say for a moment, but then I said no.” She shook her head, trying to clear it. “And he … he looked so
surprised
, and he just asked why … and I … I said, Because I need to go home,’ and he asked why again, and I said, ‘Because my brother will be sad if I don’t go home, and he’ll be lonely’”

She put her head into her hands and started to cry. And he … he pushed me away and said, ‘Get out,’ and that’s all he would say to me. I didn’t understand and I tried to talk to him, but he pulled some other person over and said, ‘Get her out of here.’”

“And then?”

“Then … the other guy asked, And do what with her?’ and Nikolas said, he said, ‘I don’t care, just get her home to her brother.’ And … no.”

“Go on, Kristin,” Sarah urged, but the girl just shook her head.

“No, no …”

Despite Sarah’s encouragement, Kristin would say no more. The block was partially vampiric mind control, but mostly simple, human denial.

A
LL THREE OF THEM
jumped at the knock on the door.

“Who is it?” Robert called.

“Is Sarah in there? It’s Nissa — I need to talk to her —”

Robert had opened the door before Sarah could tell him otherwise. Sarah fell back into a fighting stance, unsure what Nissa wanted.

“Sarah, I’m glad I tracked you down. Nikolas is calling for your blood. What the hell did you do to Christopher?”

“I did what I needed to do to survive,” Sarah answered, but Nissa’s attention had left her and moved onto Kristin, who was huddled in a corner, sobbing.

“God …” Nissa looked at the marks on Kristin’s arms, and then said, “Nikolas didn’t do this to her. These are his marks, but he would never … leave someone like this.”

Robert frowned. “If he didn’t, who did?”

“What are you doing here?” Nissa asked, as if just realizing that the human boy was in the room.

“I live here,” he answered. “And since you’re in my house, maybe you should answer my questions.”

Nissa just shook her head. “What happened to her?”

“Why do you care?”

“Why do I care?” Nissa said between her teeth. “I care because she is a living human being, and she’s …” She shook her head violently, and then put a hand on Kristin’s shoulder. The girl looked up at Nissa, who caught her eye.

Kristin screamed again, bolting from Nissa’s hold.

“What the hell did you do to her?” Robert demanded.

“I just tried to find the memories of what caused …
that,”
Nissa spat, looking at Kristin. “I should have known this is the kind of mess Kaleo would leave behind.”

“Kaleo?”
Robert repeated. “Who the hell is Kaleo?”

Nissa laughed, a pained sound, but she did not answer. Instead, she turned back to Kristin, who was sitting silently in the corner, terrified. “I don’t think I can help her. Kaleo has her blood bonded to himself, and I’m not strong enough to reach her mind through that.”

“You mean someone stronger could help her?” Robert asked, catching the unspoken statement.

“I don’t know exactly what
caused
this, but if someone could reach her mind through all the mess he’s put in there, they could help.”

Robert stalked over to where Nissa was standing. “I don’t want to know what you are or what relation to Nikolas you have. If you can help my sister, or get
someone who can, I don’t care if you’re the devil herself.”

Nissa shook her head. “I don’t think —”

“Please. If you know how to help her, you have to. She wasn’t like this before. She was … colorful. Alive. Intelligent. Kind. She had dreams. But the monster who did this took all that away.”

“I know someone who would be strong enough to help her,” Nissa said slowly, but she looked over Robert’s shoulder and met Sarah’s gaze. “But he —”

“Then get him to do it!” Robert ordered, but Sarah was very slowly shaking her head.

“Sarah?” Nissa left the rest of the question unspoken.

“Would he help?” Sarah asked quietly. “Or would he do more damage than Kaleo did?”

“I think he would help,” Nissa answered, and Sarah nodded.

“Fine, then.” She was leaving sanity in the hands of the insane. Since when were the monsters called in to heal the innocent?

Nissa disappeared, and Robert shouted, “That … that …”

“Was one of the simplest vampire tricks you will ever see. She could be in China now with no more effort than you would use to blink.”

Robert sat down, his legs folding under him.

“Is she gone?” Kristin whispered as she lifted her head.

“For the moment,” Robert answered, still dazed.

While Nissa was gone, Sarah drew the knife from the sheath on her back, unsure what was going to happen once she reappeared.

“What’s that for?” Robert asked, nervous.

“Just in case I need it,” she answered. She moved so her back was to a wall, and crossed her arms. She could defend herself if necessary, but she didn’t want to start a fight if Nikolas was going to help Kristin.

“You just carry that thing around?”

“This and two others,” Sarah answered. “Sometimes more. It depends whether the knife sheaths match my outfit.”

Robert looked at her as if she might be crazy, but then seemed to realize she was making a joke. He
didn’t
realize that she was also telling the complete truth — she tried to wear as many knives as her outfit would safely hide.

Then Nissa reappeared with Nikolas and everything happened at once.

Robert’s eyes narrowed as he realized who Nikolas must be —
black and white
.

Sarah and Nikolas locked glares, and he took a step toward her.

Nissa stepped between Nikolas and Sarah.

Kristin vaulted across the room and fell at Nikolas’s feet.

Nikolas’s attention snapped away from Sarah as he pulled Kristin up, looking at her quizzically Sarah could see recognition in his eyes.

“Christine,” he recalled aloud.

The girl did not argue the name, but instead nodded, leaning against him. Nikolas tensed for a moment, and then put a comforting arm around her, looking over her to where Robert was standing.

“You’re the brother?” Robert nodded. “I sent Christine home. What happened to her?”

Robert opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again. “I thought …”

“She told us what happened up until you sent her off,” Sarah said. “Then she broke down, hysterical. Nissa said Kaleo did this.”
Since when did Nikolas turn into a cuddly sweetheart?
Sarah wondered cynically seeing the tenderness with which Nikolas held Kristin.

Nikolas’s eyes narrowed. “It would be like him.” He looked around the room, taking in the lack of color, perhaps seeing even more in it than Sarah had. “This isn’t his, though … Kaleo likes color, especially red.”

Kristin shivered, and put her head down on Nikolas’s chest, crying.

“She can’t stand color anymore,” Robert explained, watching his sister in Nikolas’s gentle embrace. “She screams at anything red.”

Nikolas nodded, and then returned his attention to Kristin, lifting her face.

“What happened after I sent you away, Christine?”

She shook her head violently. “No, no —”

“Christine, look at me!” Nikolas ordered. He put his hands on her shoulders and forced her to meet his gaze. Sarah heard the echo of his voice in her own mind, and she could tell that Nikolas was forcing his words into Kristin’s mind as he spoke aloud.
“You’re … safe, Christine. No one is going to hurt you. Calm down
.”

Kristin relaxed a bit as his mind reached into hers, speaking his words directly to her thoughts.