The Den of Shadows Quartet - Amelia Atwater-Rhodes [105]
“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.
CHAPTER 24
ALL 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