Velvet (15 page)

My stomach dropped. I thought it was red wine. But maybe it was—

“Caitlin,” Mariana said in a soft voice that had a hint of a French accent. She set her book and wineglass down on the coffee table to shake my hand. Dominic stood, too, and put his arm around her waist.

“Welcome,” he said, voice sounding solidly American. “It’s nice to finally meet you.”

“Have a seat.” Mariana gestured at the couch opposite theirs. “Can I get you anything to drink?”

My stomach did another little somersault as I shook my head. “No, thank you.”

Adrian and I sat. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Lucian climb over the back of the other sofa and roll down until he was sitting with his legs crossed, goggled face staring blankly into the fire.

“To begin, please rest assured that your family is safe,” Mariana said. Her voice was charming, smooth and light, and it reminded me, for some strange reason, of those old preparatory schools that used to teach etiquette and diction.

“We have informed the Council of our father’s return to this dimension,” she continued, “and either myself, Dominic, or Adrian will be scanning your house at all times to make sure nothing is—out of place.”

I cast a quizzical look at Adrian.

“Sort of like emotional sonar,” he explained. “We send out a wave and see what emotions bounce back. If anything unusual is going on, we’ll know.”

I nodded, then looked at the couple across from me. “I don’t remember Adrian mentioning anything about a Council.”

Dominic took another sip of wine, then set it down carefully, glancing at his wife before turning to me. “The Council is our governing body, founded several millennia ago by a woman named Adataneses. She was only human,” he said, as if it was a bit of an embarrassment. “A midwife, actually—but she knew what we were. She was the first to take infant vampires from their dying mothers and raise them as her own. In those days, children who weren’t retrieved by demons immediately after birth were often decapitated and burned alive by humans, thought to be demons themselves, or any of a number of other monsters. Adataneses began to save them. She created our entire society, the rules by which we live peacefully with the rest of the world. The children she rescued became the Council, and the Council continues to govern us to this day.”

I guess he and Mariana were of the faithful variety—they spoke like all this was fact, not myth. I raised an eyebrow. “So—your dads are all demons. Like, holy water, Dante’s
Inferno
demons?”

Adrian moved imperceptibly closer to me on the couch. For some reason, it felt like a warning.

Mariana smiled faintly, but it was not a friendly smile. “More or less.”

I leaned back, shaking my head. “I don’t mean to be rude, but do you expect me to believe all this? That there are
demons
out there?”

Mariana’s gaze was ice-cold. “You should believe in evil, Ms. Holte. Call it what you will.”

“However,” she continued, “we are not concerned with your disbelief. We are concerned with the threat that has been placed against you.”

Figuring I didn’t have much to lose but a few pints of blood, I stared right back at her.

“Why am I so special, exactly? Adrian was a little vague on that point.”

Mariana and Dominic exchanged a look. He stood, went over to the shelf, and pulled out a thin, embellished book.

“This,” he said, handing it to me carefully, “is a copy of the
Matris Libri
—the Book of Mothers. The original is, of course, in the Council vault. Even so, please handle it with care.”

I opened the leather cover slowly. The first half of the book was filled with faded charcoal sketches of women that had clearly lived centuries ago. The closer I got to the end, the more modern the women became. I reached the last page and Adrian pointed at the bottom right picture. “That was Lucian’s mother.” He pointed to the photo on the left. “And that was my mother.”

A soft smile came over Adrian’s face as he looked at the woman in the picture. Her dark, wavy hair blew in the breeze as she stood on a sailboat on the brightest blue water I’d ever seen, against the backdrop of a white city.

“That’s Greece,” he explained. “She was going to become a biochemical engineer, according to her college transcripts. She was only twenty when I was born.” The smile on his face faded. Twenty when he was born—twenty when
she
died.

“From the information we’ve gathered about these women,” Dominic continued, “they were all noted in their communities as individuals of great intellect, skill, and drive. Women that most likely would have become religious martyrs, political revolutionaries, scientists, and mathematicians. And you can see for yourself their beauty.” He leaned back and swirled the wine in his glass as though this were all regular dinner conversation. “Genetics appear to be an important factor. One theory is that demons choose handsome, intelligent women in order to produce similarly handsome and intelligent children.”

I didn’t mean to, but I laughed. They looked at me sharply, and I felt bad for breaking the moment.

“If that’s the case, you’ve got the wrong girl,” I explained.

Mariana frowned at me, clearly disliking that I’d interrupted her husband. “And why is that?”

I blushed. “Look, I’m—I’m okay to look at, but I sure as shit don’t look anything like her,” I said, pointing at the picture of Adrian’s mother. “Pardon my French,” I added, in his direction. “I also happen to be failing every class but art. I mean, I’m decently smart, I could be getting As if I wanted, but I don’t really care about school. I’m not a savant. I’m not
different
. I know how to sew better than anyone I know, but if the formula for whipping up vampire babies is an unfair amount of beauty and an absurd amount of intelligence, I doubt I’m a candidate.”

“I am fascinated that you are so glib with your own life,” Mariana said, covering my interruption. “But we are not. Something
will
happen concerning you. Please do not disillusion yourself on this matter.”

I bristled, but bit my tongue. She folded her hands in her lap, posture perfect, movements careful and measured, more like a marionette than a human being.

“Since Adrian is the closest to you in age,” she continued, “and has a plausible excuse to be near you, the Council has assigned him as your primary guardian until the danger has passed. We will all, of course, be responsible for your safety, but any questions you have may be addressed to him. Please understand that, for the sake of your well-being, there may be subjects Adrian will not be permitted to discuss. If you try to acquire these answers in some other fashion, there will be consequences.”

She paused to take a sip of wine, eyeing me over the rim of her glass. I kept expecting Adrian to pipe up with some funny, tension-relieving vampire trivia—but he didn’t. Finally, she set the glass down on the table and settled back into her spot on the couch, never breaking eye contact with me.

“I must stress,” she began again, “that while your relationship with my younger brother must be convincing, it cannot be authentic. Our law forbids relationships—of any kind—between our race and yours. When the danger has passed, you and Adrian will”—she paused, looking at him—“how do they say it now? ‘Break up’? Publicly, of course. After which, you may return to your accustomed life—and we to ours.”

If the silence had been awkward before, it was ten times that now.

“Sure,” I said, the information stuttering through my brain. And then I blurted out, “Does he have a name? Your father?”

Mariana’s eyes narrowed marginally. “He does.”

But she didn’t elaborate—and neither did Adrian or Dominic. I’d definitely trespassed into restricted territory.

Mariana was a tiny woman, smaller than me, but I felt like she could burn me with her eyes from across the room, like an evil, petite Superman. Maybe she could.

The thought was not comforting.

“All right, so, you’ll just—keep me updated, on stuff?” I asked, eyes flickering back and forth between Dominic and Mariana.

They nodded in unison, which was just about the creepiest thing I’d ever seen.

“Okay then,” Adrian said, standing, “now that we’ve unnecessarily terrified Caitlin, I’m going to take her home.”

“It was very nice to meet you, Caitlin,” Mariana said with a smile that I’m not certain had ever reached her eyes.

I nodded awkwardly at them, mostly because I couldn’t bring myself to return the sentiment. I turned to where Lucian had been sitting to say good-bye, but he was gone. Adrian led me off through the library again, back through the elegant maze that was his house. We reached the front door and he helped me into my coat.

“That went all right,” he said finally.

I snorted in disbelief, lacing up my boots.

He grimaced a little. “Yeah, that was awful, I’m sorry. I kept wanting to say something, but you don’t know what it’s like here. I’m in such an awkward—” He paused, rubbing his hands over his face. “Let’s just say this is all unprecedented. I mean, this
never
happens. Humans don’t know our business. And Mariana and Dominic are rarely around your kind anymore, so they’ve lost their tact.”

I’d actually never seen them in town, even to get groceries or fuel up their cars. They were like gods up here on the mountain, looking down at the little townsfolk. If these were the people he grew up with, a lot of Adrian’s initial standoffishness made a lot more sense now.

We walked through the snow to his truck and the moment he opened the driver’s side door something sprang from the cab, ramming him back onto the lawn. I screamed, on edge from the recent threats. But when I looked closer, I realized the attacker was Lucian, and he and Adrian were wrestling—not to the death, as it first looked, but for fun … I think. After a few moments, Adrian had him pinned.

“You didn’t expect me there,” Lucian said with a wicked grin, chest heaving from the exertion of fighting someone almost two feet taller and a hundred pounds heavier.

“You’re right,” Adrian said. “I didn’t. Especially since I told you to
stay out of my truck
.” His tone was stern, but the expression on his face wasn’t angry. If anything, he looked amused.

“I forgot,” the boy said impishly.

“Yeah, I bet you forgot. Just like you ‘forgot’ to clean your room yesterday.”

Lucian continued to grin and Adrian shook his head. “How about I forget you were in there if you go up and clean your room like Mariana told you to. Deal?”

He hauled Lucian to his feet. The boy shook Adrian’s hand to agree to the terms and sprinted back into the house.

I smiled. “Cute kid.”

“He needs to stop popping out of nowhere.”

“It wasn’t that bad.”

“You forget I can hear your pulse.”

Ah—right.

We got into the truck and he backed out through what I had mentally dubbed “the palace gates.” I wanted to ask him so many things, but I felt uneasy. To be honest, Mariana and Dominic had totally unnerved me. They were so
inhuman
. Perfectly human looking, but their mannerisms and speech patterns were precise and slow, like beautiful, creepy-ass puppets. I’d initially thought Adrian was aloof, but he was a circus clown compared to his aunt and uncle. Or, well, his sister and brother-in-law. Geez, I was never gonna keep this all straight. It wasn’t that far between our houses, so we were pulling up to the ranch before I could find the words to voice any of my thoughts.

“Sorry I dragged you away from dinner,” I said as he parked the truck in front of the house. “You want to eat with us?”

He seemed to consider it, then shook his head. “I’d better get back. Gotta take my medication.”

I looked up at him curiously. “I thought your immune system kicked ass?”

He laughed. “Sorry, that’s what we say when we need to drink—” He shrugged awkwardly. “Y’know.”

“Oh,” I said, blushing for some reason.

He looked down, obviously embarrassed. “It’s kind of an inside joke. Not that funny, really.”

I should have kept my mouth shut, but curiosity got the better of me. “Does it … taste good?”

He looked up at me for a long moment, before his gaze slowly drifted down to my neck. “You can’t imagine.”

My pulse jumped, half in fear and half in … something else. His voice had gone low and liquid, and his eyes were burning silver.

“Hey, Cait?” he murmured, and though he hadn’t moved an inch, it felt as though he were leaning toward me.

“Yeah?” I whispered.

He wasn’t looking me in the eye anymore, just staring somewhere above my chest and below my jaw. The sound of my own heart seemed loud in my ears, and if
I
could hear it, so could Adrian.

His eyes flicked back to my face. “You should really get out now.”

I blinked. “Yeah.”

I scrambled to undo my seat belt and almost fell out of the truck. I could hear the click of the automatic locks snapping into place the moment the door was closed. Adrian peeled out of the driveway, back into the darkness.

9

DEATH SLED

The Saturday before Thanksgiving was bright, the sun sparkling off the snowy ground and trees like flakes of diamonds all fluffed up into piles. I was standing at the stove in my sweatpants and one of my dad-sweaters cooking French toast and bacon and everything felt perfect, for once. Nothing actually
was
perfect, but it felt like it, and I was perfectly willing to ignore reality, if just for the morning.

As usual, Rachel was sitting at the table going over paperwork. I’d long since figured that, between her and Joe, she had the head for math, which is why she did most of the bills and financing for the ranch. I glanced over and saw that her mug was empty. If I offered to refill it, she might want to talk. But I was in a good mood—I could risk it.

“More coffee?” I asked, holding up the pot.

“Sure,” she said, looking surprised. “That’d be great.”

I walked over and refilled her mug before sitting down to eat my French toast. Rachel set down her papers and slid her reading glasses off.