“Yes. She was the most beautiful creature I’d ever seen. She’d arrived with the French troops but played the part of damsel in distress very well.” He looks back at me. “The stories of the ships carrying only men weren’t true. There were women. Not many, but a few. Most were…” He stops whatever he was about to say. “I tend to think she used magic, along with other things, to secure her passage.”
“Was she already a vampire?” My question feels naïve as soon as it leaves my mouth.
Cyrus scoffs. “She’s been a vampire longer than I know. Longer than anyone knows. Soldiers began disappearing. At first, one a month, maybe two.
“No one noticed?”
“They noticed, but we were in a new land, with new diseases, and no medical care. It wasn’t unusual for someone to die from cholera or pneumonia.” He shrugs. “As strange as it sounds, it was normal. It wasn’t until the disappearances picked up that I was sent to investigate.”
“Alone?”
“There weren’t that many left. Plus, I was arrogant enough to think I could kill whatever animal it was.” His eyes look far away. “Little did I know, it wasn’t an animal.”
“It was her.”
He nods. “It didn’t take long to find her. Hell, all I had to do was walk alone outside the walls of the fort. I heard her before I saw her. She teased me, moving in front of me at vampire speed, when my human eyes could barely detect movement.”
“She was toying with you,” I add.
“She was smart but followed a pattern that I figured out quickly. I was able to slice her torso as she ran past. It forced her to stop in front of me.”
I slide forward on the bench, feeling like a kid at story time. “She was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. I fell in love instantly.”
My stomach knots at his words. I have no reason to be jealous, but for some reason, his words strike me wrong.
“She told me I was different. I was smarter.” He pauses. “Without warning, she was on top of me, drinking from my neck.” My mind flashes back to Harrison and our walk by the river. “Instead of killing me, she drained nearly every ounce of blood from my body before giving me her blood.”
The look on my face no doubt reflects the emotions welling inside. “Violet. I’m sorry. How could I be soselfish?” Long fingers wrap through mine. “I forgot what Chamberlin…”
“It’s okay,” I lie. “Please continue.”
Blue eyes look deeply into mine before he speaks again. “For two centuries, I was her killing machine. When Aurora wasn’t using me to kill, she was using me for…other things.”
“I don’t know what to say,” I admit.
“You don’t have to say anything. It was a long time ago, and that part of my life is…was over.”
“Until she showed up earlier?”
“Yes,” he answers. “Over the years, she’s grown bored with me, and I’ve done my best to stay out of her reach. She shows up once or twice a decade, barking orders, then disappears again.” His fingers tighten around mine. “I can’t stop her from taking you, Violet.”
I stand, moving away from my buyer. “I won’t go.”
“I can’t fight her. Not only did she turn me into a vampire, she cast a spell that won’t allow me to go against her wishes. Believe me, I’ve tried.”
“Then we just have to uncast it,” I retort.
“That’s impossible.”
“Not necessarily,” Simon says, chewing on a turkey leg. “I might know someone.”
TEN
stories and parties
“With all due respect,Simon, I’ve been here for four and a half centuries. If there were a witch powerful enough to overpower Aurora, I’d know of them,” Cyrus announces.
“In most cases, that would be true. But believe it or not, you don’t know everything, Cyrus.”
