Grayson lifted an eyebrow. “It sounds like you think the Vampires want to take over? Or should take over?”
She let out a small laugh. “It is inevitable, isn’t it?”
He didn’t get a chance to ask her more as they had arrived at their destination. Though Lisette had said that they were going to a graveyard, this place was called a Memory Garden by the Vampires. Memories of friends and vanquished foes. Some of their bodies had been buried here, but most were not. Some souls were stored here in soul gems that were set into the white stone columns that were arranged in elaborate patterns–spirals, circles, triangles, squares and more–half a mile from Nightvallen’s walls.
“It’s beautiful,” Hue breathed. “The stone appears to glow. Do you think?”
Grayson nodded. It did. He had a sudden memory of him and Rachel putting Wintergreen mints onto their tongues, which would glow in the dark and give out a spark when they bit them with their mouths open. And that was when he saw her.
A group of reporters had been welcomed to the first part of this evening. They wouldn’t get to see the personal encounters, but there was to be some kind of show beforehand. Rachel and a cluster of reporters were standing beside the main path that would lead them to the center of the Memory Garden. The center was on a gentle hill and Grayson could see Caemorn standing there. But he broke off to speak to Rachel who waved at him.
“I’ll be right back,” he told Hue.
She nodded, but was clearly overwhelmed by the beauty and, undoubtedly, supernatural pull of the place. Rachel was smiling at him. They’d seen each other a few times–briefly–since the night the Marrowstalker attacked him. She had questions. He had not answered them. She hadn’t stopped asking exactly, but just put them to the side. Though she walked a few feet away from the other reporters to meet him halfway, the other reporters turned towards him. There were a few flashesaimed their way. A bright light from a camera was suddenly encompassing him like a deer in headlights.
“Guys, this isn’t part of the story!” Rachel said with a surprising amount of force. She put her much smaller form between him and the other reporters, staring them down. The camera swung away after a long moment. There were a few more flashes. But then it was just the two of them and she turned back towards him, smiling once more. “This is so exciting! We’ve heard so much about what the Kaly can do, but it’s all been justtheory, you know? Rumors, hopes, dreams, and, of course, fears.”
He nodded. “Even for Vampires, the Kaly have always been a little mysterious.”
She cocked her head to the side. “You say that with such certainty, Grayson! But I suppose Ryder has told you so much about them.”
He just smiled. He didn’t want to lie to her, but she could draw whatever conclusions she wanted. Soon, she would know the truth and he would rather had not told her so many untruths before then.
“Who do you think you’ll see?” she asked almost conspiratorially.
It was the same question that Hue had asked him, but he was certain that she wouldn’t think murdering certain men made people worthy. It wasn’t that Rachel was lacking in imagination. She was a good person, a moral person, and she would have said something like the law should have taken care of his stepfather and the rich man that preyed on Hue’s sister. If they pointed out that there wasn’t going to be such a body of law who could do that, an outside force, she would likely tell them to run away, to escape. But that wasn’t really possible either.
Sometimes cutting out the cancer is the best thing to do.
“I’m not sure. Einstein?” he laughed.
She grinned. “Oh, my God, that would be amazing! What about like Abraham Lincoln or Caesar Augustus?”
“If they’re still hanging around here and haven’t moved on,” he said. “But it would be cool.”
“Who would you want to see, Rachel?” he asked.
“I’m not sure either. Like family? My grandparents. Aunt Margaret. Remember her?” Rachel asked almost hopefully.
His mind was cast back to a sprightly woman who talked with her hands. “She died of cancer?”
She nodded. “Breast cancer. She was the one that made me feel I could do anything I put my mind to. Mom and Dad are great, but they had small lives, you know? That’s not fair. They have great lives, but Mom’s a teacher. Dad works in insurance. It’s a stable life.”
“But not one that would have led them to the Ever Dark?” Grayson guessed.
“No, most definitely not,” she agreed.
“How are your parents?” He realized he hadn’t asked and he’d loved her parents.
Like I didn’t ask about shifting or anything to do with Ryder’s gift.
“They’re good. Grayer. A little slower. But good,” she said with evident fondness. “They still live next to your mom.”
His breath caught. He swallowed and asked as evenly as he could, “Are they… they still friends?”
“Yes, they aren’t… aren’t influenced by other people. So the rumors that swirled around your mom and you after–after your stepfather died, they didn’t care,” she said with a touch of pride. “There was one time at the grocery store and your mom was ambushed by some reporters and my mom just planted herself between them and her. She put her hands on her hips and told them to go away. That it was indecent.”
“Just like you did for me,” Grayson pointed out.
