The Den of Shadows Quartet - Amelia Atwater-Rhodes [57]
The idea seemed far-fetched. Though Jessica knew plenty about her vampires, she knew nothing about anyone who had ever become human again besides what her dreams had told of Jazlyn. Only a witch would know if a baby carried in a vampiric womb would regain its life with its mother.
“I didn’t know there was a child,” Hasana whispered. “Now I understand. Monica wouldn’t have risked her life to save a vampire. But a baby … Monica must have believed that it would survive.”
“What happened to the child?” Jessica shouted. She had to force herself not to grab Hasana by the shoulders and try to shake the information from her.
“I didn’t know there was one,” Hasana repeated, shaking her head apologetically Jessica turned away and returned to the room she’d been given, needing to think.
Her mother. The term brought a moment of pain. The woman who had raised her was dead; now she had been replaced by a phantom who had never wanted Jessica. Jazlyn Raisa.
Jessica paced softly in her room, trying to organize her thoughts.
Siete was the first of the vampires. He was ancient, even compared to Fala and Jager and Silver, and his mind was powerful enough that he could easily know everything that Jessica had written. His blood ran through her veins as surely as it had run through her mother’s, and her link to him was no doubt as strong as the link he had with his fledglings. The difference was that she was human and had no shields against his mind. So when she slept or simply drifted, she shared his dreams and his thoughts.
The puzzle had come together finally.
Jessica’s gaze fell on her computer. Without making a conscious decision to do so, she sat down and booted it up, wanting to hear the comforting hum.
The familiar compulsion struck her. But ignoring the book she had been working on, she began another, though she had no idea how this one was going to end.
The night is full of mystery. Even when the moon is brightest, secrets hide everywhere. Then the sun rises and its rays cast so many shadows that the day creates more illusion than all the veiled truth of the night.
Several hours and many pages passed before the flow of thoughts ceased. Who, she wondered, would finish it if she died?
CHAPTER 24
NEEDING TO GET AWAY from the magic-choked atmosphere of the house, Jessica slipped out of her room and down the stairs.
“Where are you going, Jessica? I’m just about to serve dinner.”
She froze, hearing Hasana’s voice, and turned to see Dominique and Hasana standing together in the next room.
“I was planning to go for a walk, perhaps wander in the woods a bit,” she answered. “Is there something wrong with that?”
Hasana sighed. “Jessica, do you really think you should be going out there alone?” Jessica could hear a hint of annoyance in her voice.
“Do you really think I can stay inside until Dominique has killed all the vampires?” Jessica snapped in return. She knew Hasana was trying to help, but she felt like a wolf caged in the shepherd’s barn.
“I could at least deal with a few of them,” Dominique said, watching Jessica as if for a reaction. “After a while, the others will probably decide you aren’t worth the trouble.”
“After you murder another dozen or so of them,” Jessica choked out. She had a sudden, vivid image of Aubrey with Dominique’s knife in his heart. She would not wish Dominique even upon Fala.
“It isn’t murder to kill something that died thousands of years ago,” Dominique argued. “Murder is what they do every night, when even you know they don’t need to kill in order to feed. Murder is what they did yesterday to your mother.”
Jessica took an involuntary step toward Dominique and felt the first warning strike from the hunter: a slight burning sensation on the surface of her skin, which flared for a moment and then faded.
Hasana put a hand on Dominique’s arm to get her attention. “Dominique, I hardly think that comment was necessary.”
Dominique sighed. “If she’s going to be staying in this house with you and Caryn, then I need to know whose side she’s on,” she asserted. “Well, Jessica?