angry that he could have killed her with his bare hands. “What about Diana?” I asked.
“The last I saw of her she was being buried alive.” In a movement so fast I could barely see it even with my keen vampire sight, he was on me again, staring at me eye-to-eye. “I would have killed her myself if I could have reached her—drained her like I did Eleanor. Did I tell you I too saw Eleanor in hell?”
“How? The shells?”
“Yes. I used the shells to try to get you back—to see if you could be reached.”
“Then you saw…” I couldn’t even stand to say what Eleanor had become. There’s just something awful about snakes. I guess it’s human nature to be disgusted by the serpent and what it represents. The story of the fall is part of all of us.
A wave of revulsion showed on William’s face and he staggered a step away from me, the reality of what he’d done to Eleanor dealing him a body blow. I reached out to steady him. It was a sign of his condition that he let me.
“I did what I had to do, Jack. I sacrificed the woman I loved, the woman I’d planned to spend eternity with, and even having seen her being tortured in the hereafter, I can swear to you I’d do it again, because she was a danger to my family. I put you and the rest of my family first. And that is what you will do, too. When the time comes, you must kill Connie Jones. It’s time for you to be a vampire!”
I tried to look away. I tried to think. “But she doesn’t know she’s the Slayer,” I pleaded again. “Maybe she’ll never know. You said earlier that I could keep a close eye on her.” I stepped back and this time William didn’t close the distance.
He sighed and rubbed his brow, considering. We had all been through the wringer tonight, physically and emotionally, and his exhaustion showed. “All right. Watch her carefully until Melaphia and Olivia can find out more about the prophecy. In the meantime, if she comes for you…”
“I know,” I said, holding up a hand. I couldn’t bear to hear it again.
William stared at me for a long moment, sizing me up, trying to decide if I was made of stuff as stern as he was. But he’d gotten as good at hiding his thoughts from me as I was at hiding mine from him. It was probably for my own good that I couldn’t read him now. I probably wouldn’t like what I saw.
“Prepare yourself,” he said. “What Melaphia and Olivia uncover might be quite unpleasant. If that’s the case, I expect you to act and act quickly. As I did.”
He turned on his heel and left me standing in the kitchen thinking about the horror of spending eternity knowing that I’d murdered the woman I loved. Just as William had done.
Six
William
I awoke later than usual. Even vampires can suffer from jet lag, not to mention weariness. By the time I rose, both Jack and his black coffin with the number 3 decal were already gone. I knew that now that I had returned from Europe, Jack would go back to his own digs, as he would put it—a unit in a heavily guarded mini-warehouse.
At my request, he had been staying at the house in my absence to look after Melaphia. That was no longer necessary, but I knew his hasty departure had as much to do with the tension between us on the issue of Consuela Jones.
Jack and I hadn’t always gotten along. He’d resisted my authority as his sire since I made him some one hundred and forty years ago. Most of that resistance was passive, but we’d come to blows on occasion—certainly not that unusual between a blood drinker and his offspring but troubling nonetheless. Still and all, we needed each other, both to protect our family—the descendants of Lalee—and to defend our territory and the human population of Savannah from any nonhuman threats.
Over the years, as Jack had achieved more maturity and hopefully better judgment, I offered him more autonomy. I don’t think Jack fully appreciated this until the day my own sire, Reedrek, arrived in Savannah. With the
“The last I saw of her she was being buried alive.” In a movement so fast I could barely see it even with my keen vampire sight, he was on me again, staring at me eye-to-eye. “I would have killed her myself if I could have reached her—drained her like I did Eleanor. Did I tell you I too saw Eleanor in hell?”
“How? The shells?”
“Yes. I used the shells to try to get you back—to see if you could be reached.”
“Then you saw…” I couldn’t even stand to say what Eleanor had become. There’s just something awful about snakes. I guess it’s human nature to be disgusted by the serpent and what it represents. The story of the fall is part of all of us.
A wave of revulsion showed on William’s face and he staggered a step away from me, the reality of what he’d done to Eleanor dealing him a body blow. I reached out to steady him. It was a sign of his condition that he let me.
“I did what I had to do, Jack. I sacrificed the woman I loved, the woman I’d planned to spend eternity with, and even having seen her being tortured in the hereafter, I can swear to you I’d do it again, because she was a danger to my family. I put you and the rest of my family first. And that is what you will do, too. When the time comes, you must kill Connie Jones. It’s time for you to be a vampire!”
I tried to look away. I tried to think. “But she doesn’t know she’s the Slayer,” I pleaded again. “Maybe she’ll never know. You said earlier that I could keep a close eye on her.” I stepped back and this time William didn’t close the distance.
He sighed and rubbed his brow, considering. We had all been through the wringer tonight, physically and emotionally, and his exhaustion showed. “All right. Watch her carefully until Melaphia and Olivia can find out more about the prophecy. In the meantime, if she comes for you…”
“I know,” I said, holding up a hand. I couldn’t bear to hear it again.
William stared at me for a long moment, sizing me up, trying to decide if I was made of stuff as stern as he was. But he’d gotten as good at hiding his thoughts from me as I was at hiding mine from him. It was probably for my own good that I couldn’t read him now. I probably wouldn’t like what I saw.
“Prepare yourself,” he said. “What Melaphia and Olivia uncover might be quite unpleasant. If that’s the case, I expect you to act and act quickly. As I did.”
He turned on his heel and left me standing in the kitchen thinking about the horror of spending eternity knowing that I’d murdered the woman I loved. Just as William had done.
Six
William
I awoke later than usual. Even vampires can suffer from jet lag, not to mention weariness. By the time I rose, both Jack and his black coffin with the number 3 decal were already gone. I knew that now that I had returned from Europe, Jack would go back to his own digs, as he would put it—a unit in a heavily guarded mini-warehouse.
At my request, he had been staying at the house in my absence to look after Melaphia. That was no longer necessary, but I knew his hasty departure had as much to do with the tension between us on the issue of Consuela Jones.
Jack and I hadn’t always gotten along. He’d resisted my authority as his sire since I made him some one hundred and forty years ago. Most of that resistance was passive, but we’d come to blows on occasion—certainly not that unusual between a blood drinker and his offspring but troubling nonetheless. Still and all, we needed each other, both to protect our family—the descendants of Lalee—and to defend our territory and the human population of Savannah from any nonhuman threats.
Over the years, as Jack had achieved more maturity and hopefully better judgment, I offered him more autonomy. I don’t think Jack fully appreciated this until the day my own sire, Reedrek, arrived in Savannah. With the
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