A terrible idea didn’t cover it.
‘So, you’re huntsmen in training, is that right?’ Cat asked, batting her long lashes.
‘Fully trained huntsmen,’ Bash amended. ‘We’re in the Institute because furthering our education serves the order.’
‘I see. So, you’ve all murdered immortals and other sups already. Good to know.’
Jack had closed the window and put the heating on, but the air in the car was ice anyway.
‘Can we ride with Tris instead?’ Gwen whispered to Chloe.
Cat’s bright green eyes turned to the back seat where Chloe was huddled between Gwen and Mikar.
‘And you’re a witch,” she said to Gwen. “Unusual, wouldn’t you say, for one of you to spend time with huntsmen? You know they’re behind most of the witch massacres throughout history?’
Blair, seated beside Cat in the second row, replied, ‘Actually, that was mostly regular human men killing random regular human women for kicks. Trust me, I’m from the Salem Coven. We know our history. Huntsmen and witches have a great relationship where I’m from in the States. They come to us for protective spells; we go to them when we have a rogue shifter problem, or whatever.’
Cat all but hissed.
‘Ignore her,’ Mikar told them. ‘Catherine is a Stormhale. Her family’s storm magic is unpredictable. They’ve made a mess a billion times throughout history, and huntsmen have had to put down too many of her people. She isn’t objective.’
‘Stormhale,’ Chloe echoed.
Levi had mentioned that name, but now she thought of it, she’d heard it before then.
One of the seven, she realized. The seven families directly changed by Ariadne, the vampires’ creator. Blair had called them vampire royalty.
Suddenly remembering that frustrating conversation from three months ago, Chloe asked, ‘Hey, what are the founding families again? De Villier, Drake, Stormhale, Helsing…’
Cat didn’t miss a beat, finishing the list for her.
‘Beauforts, Rosedean, and Eirikrson.’
Eirikrson. That was it. The one Blair had refused to talk about.
Chloe felt like the name was familiar to her, somehow, although she’d be hard-pressed to say where she’d heard it.
Eirikrson…
‘It must be amazing to come from a line with so much history,’ Gwen said.
Cat turned to her and smiled, completely changing her features. She no longer seemed quite so cold or unfriendly. She looked younger and, if anything, more beautiful.
‘We have stories that go back to the Roman times. You wouldn’t believe half of it. And don’t get me started with the family heirlooms.’ She winked at Gwen. ‘Jewels. Loads and loads of jewels.’
Reiss laughed at her side. ‘I bet. Shame no one can get into the Eirikrson coffers. There must be so many treasures lying around in their dusty old mansion.’
Cat visibly relaxed. ‘In Rome, we have a painting of my great-aunt with Liz Eirikrson. Her sword had a diamond the size of a fist, she wore the most gorgeous ruby necklace, and don’t get me started on her diadem. To know that they’re all lying over there, unappreciated, breaks my heart.’
Chloe could feel Mikar stiffen. They were approaching a subject most people didn’t want to talk about—to her, in any case. But Reiss and Cat, at least, hadn’t received the memo. They talked without filter.
‘Why are they unappreciated?’ Chloe pushed.
Cat shrugged. ‘All the Eirikrsons are dead, save for the crazy one guarded in Oldcrest. And while their servants who are still alive do have access to Skyhall, the house atop Night Hill, they refuse to do anything with their fortune. Such a waste.’
‘They don’t refuse to do anything,’ Bash protested. ‘I hear that their treasures are sealed under a blood lock. No one can get in their coffer, except an Eirikrson.’
‘Maybe,’ Cat muttered. ‘My mom thinks the Eirikrson’s slayers are just saying that so they can keep everything to themselves. Who knows?’
‘Did you say one of them still lives in Oldcrest? Couldn’t he claim it?’
The car fell silent. Absolutely silent. Then, everyone laughed—even Jack, who’d been tense for the last hour. The one exception was Mikar, whose jaw was tight. He didn’t like the turn of conversation.
‘She’s a regular,’ said Gwen, as an explanation, or an apology; Chloe couldn’t quite tell. ‘I didn’t realize no one had told you about Oldcrest. I would have, if I’d known.’
After three months, she’d mostly stopped feeling like a newbie who didn’t understand sup basics. Then came moments like this.
‘Thousands of years ago, the territory was shielded by one of the most powerful witches this world has ever known,’ Cat said. ‘The wards make the entire place invisible to all of those who haven’t been invited, regular or sups alike, and that’s in order to keep that guy locked tight. The seven families moved onto Night Hill, and it was declared that one of them would live here and stand guard every year. It’s the one thing the seven have ever agreed on: that Eirikr needs to stay locked up. He was insane. Killed every vampire who wasn’t part of his family. All of the other families were in hiding because of him. And he wanted to murder Ariadne, too.’
Chloe blinked in surprise. The story made no sense.
‘He wants to murder a goddess?’
‘It’s technically possible. Gods are immortal, not eternal. Cut their head, stop their heart, and they’re gone, just like you or me. But it generally takes a god to kill a god. The thing is, Eirikr was almost as powerful as the gods themselves. There were rumors saying that, as we’re made of her blood, if she died, we’d all die with her. So, we decided it was safer to keep him locked up and throw away the key.’
Suddenly, Chloe felt a wind around her hair, although the car was still locked up. She remembered the trail on Coscnoc, beyond the black tape. The darkening, twisted path calling to her.
‘That man,’ she said, her throat dry. ‘That vampire…he’s on the east hill, right?’
‘Yeah, in a cave, protected by so many spells your head will spin just going anywhere near it. He’s been there for a long time. Don’t worry about him.’
‘Hey, there’s a resting area right ahead. You wanna stretch your legs?’ Mikar asked.
‘Sure thing.’
That was the end of the conversation. Next, they talked music, and then movies, followed by the difficulties of beheading someone with a thick neck. Cat seemed to warm up to the others in light of their common interests—particularly the beheading.
But Chloe’s mind remained on the hill. The trail.
And the creature within.
