The Den of Shadows Quartet - Amelia Atwater-Rhodes [95]
“Nikolas alone is dangerous no matter how much training you’ve had.” Nissa continued as her voice took on a pleading tone. “Even the humans there will turn on you as soon as you try to fight him.”
“Nissa, I know he’s your brother, but do you have any idea how many people he has killed?” Sarah demanded. “If I let him go because I’m scared of him, he’s going to keep killing.”
“You think I don’t know?” Nissa responded, her voice strained. “I’m the one who gave him the vampire blood, Sarah. Every kill he makes I feel the guilt for.”
CHAPTER 16
“WHAT?” Of course she had known, but hearing Nissa state it so bluntly was a shock.
“I changed him to save his life. He was in jail, waiting to be hanged for murder.” In response to Sarah’s horrified expression, Nissa continued, “He was my brother, Sarah.”
Nissa’s words started to come quickly, as if she had waited so long to tell the story to someone, and now she simply needed to get it out.
“Nicholas and Christopher were twins, as you know … Christopher was actually born first, but Nicholas always acted older. After my father was killed, Nicholas … he became more protective. Christopher had barely understood what happened, but Nicholas …” She trailed off. The reality of Nikolas did not need to be detailed.
“When they were eighteen their employer’s daughter returned from school in Europe. She was rich, and beautiful, and both my brothers adored her, though Nicholas would never have challenged Christopher for anything.
“She, of course, wasn’t interested. We were too poor and too uncultured for her high-society airs. The only reason she even acknowledged my brothers’ existences was because it amused her to tease them. She was always trying to pit the twins against one another.”
Nissa’s gaze was lost on the past, but Sarah caught a glimpse of anger as she described the girl. “Her name was Christine.”
Nissa paused a moment and then went on, “It was at a May Day picnic that things changed. Kaleo was well respected in the town and he had found an invitation for us. Nicholas and Christopher looked so handsome, all dressed up. They had taken extra care to look nice for Christine.
“Christopher asked her to dance.” Nissa’s voice gave away the next part of the story even before she said the words. She took a heavy breath and then continued, “Christine turned him down. Worse, she laughed at him. The things she said to my brother … I would have killed her myself, if I had had a chance.
“Nicholas lost it — he was so protective, and he attacked Christine, furious that she had hurt Christopher. He killed her, in plain sight of the entire town, and was sentenced to be hanged.”
“He was my brother.” Nissa’s eyes begged for understanding. “I had already lost my father, and I could not stand to lose Nicholas, too. Not when I could save him.
“I changed Nicholas, but after that … The only thing I’ve ever been grateful to Kaleo for is that the first time he took me hunting, he didn’t let me kill. The police were looking for Nikolas, and while I was trying to deal with them, Nikolas woke. It was the middle of the day, far earlier than he should have woken. He ran, and would have died if one of my kind had not taken him in.” Nissa shook her head. “Kendra took him hunting, and she taught him to kill.
“He changed Christopher the next night. They both disappeared from my life for months. Kaleo had everyone he knew looking for them, but no one could find them.
“During that time, they made the decision to give up everything that reminded them of their human lives, and that included me. They even changed how they signed their names.” She took a breath, her eyes pained. “They never contacted me. I didn’t even know they were still alive until I learned a year later that they had killed a witch, Elisabeth Vida. After that … well, they seemed to be everywhere at once.”
Nissa met Sarah’s gaze, her voice hard. “If you kill once, the bloodlust returns twice as strong. It hurts, and after you’ve been living off death for more than a hundred years … it hurts a