The blond man in the white suit noticed her approaching. She could tell from the way he stiffened but didn’t turn to greet her.
Shit.
“I’m sorry, Jack, about Reiss and Bash.”
She never had the chance to speak to him after the funeral.
He shrugged, throwing a stone that ricocheted off the surface of the water.
‘It sucks about Reiss,’ he admitted. ‘But he knew what he was getting into. Just because we’re catching a break behind these walls doesn’t change what it means to be huntsmen. We protect the world from darkness. And yes, we get hurt doing so. Nothing new. He’ll be honored as any warrior.’
Chloe hated every single word he’d just said. She hated that this world existed, that it was normal to lose a twenty-eight-year-old to a pack of monsters.
‘As for Bash,’ he added, ‘what are you sorry for exactly?’
She felt like it was a trick question, but she answered anyway.
‘He died.’
Jack had turned to her now. ‘So did you,’ he replied quietly.
Chloe’s heart skipped a beat.
She had died. She remembered the sound of her snapping neck echoing in her ears. The girl she’d been, her mortal shell, had ceased to exist. And yet she felt no loss, no attachment to that person.
‘I evolved, Jack. I may not have known it, but I was always meant to be this. I’ve never felt more like myself. My mind, scattered as it is, is finally entirely mine. I found myself. Bash lost who he was.’
Words came easier to her now, too. Everything made sense. Her own brain, her strange desires. Even her father’s descent into insanity.
She would not have Jack, or anyone else, feel sorry for her now.
Jack nodded. ‘I’m not sure how to help him now. How to guide him. Tris will turn eventually, but it’s different. She’s learned to be both a huntsman and a vampire her entire life. Bash…’
Again, she knew what to say.
‘Be his friend. That voice at the other end of the phone if he ever calls. But not his boss. If he chooses to be a hunter after he accepts his nature, you’ll be the first to know. For now, he’s one of us. Trying to accept himself like this is going to take time.’
Bash was staying in Levi’s house, and each time she’d visited, he’d been in that very study where she’d given him her blood, on that sofa. Reading. Sleeping. Maybe just avoiding her eyes.
Jack watched her intensely.
‘Are you claiming him?’
The word had meaning, she could tell, and she didn’t want to make promises she couldn’t keep. She tilted her head.
‘Are you claiming him as part of your clan, your family? Do you swear you’ll take care of him?’
Maybe the old Chloe wasn’t quite gone yet. Part of her was terrified at the prospect of being responsible for anyone at all, let alone a brand-new vampire, when she didn’t even understand herself what it entailed.
But she wasn’t just a newly risen vamp. She was an Eirikrson. The head of the Eirikrsons, as long as their forefather remained stuck in his cave.
Chloe had learned in Immortal History that most vampires no longer had any affiliation—they just lived their lives as they saw fit. But in the old days, almost everyone was sworn to one of the seven houses.
‘I’ll claim him if he wants to belong to my house,’ she said. Knowing that Jack was after more than idle words, Chloe added, ‘I swear it.’
He relaxed a little.
‘Where were you going with all that?’
She looked down at the boxes in her arms. Heavy as they were, she hadn’t noticed them for the last few minutes.
‘Oh.’
She blushed, ashamed to spell it out. No doubt Jack would think she was crazy.
‘I…’ She cleared her throat. ‘I owe someone.’
Jack smiled. ‘Better settle that debt, then. In our world, debts are as dangerous as oaths and curses.’
On her way up to Coscnoc, Chloe was annoyed at herself. She’d lied. No debt was leading her feet up the familiar hill and down the long dark path.
When she arrived at the door, she had to walk sideways to fit through it with the cardboard boxes. Finally, she reached the cave under the hill.
Eirikr was sitting on the ground. He looked thinner, far less lively. And surprised. Mostly surprised.
‘You’re back.’
She dropped the three boxes.
‘I hope you’re handy with a screwdriver? The bed comes in pieces. I’ll bring the mattress in a sec. Levi offered to carry it, but I figured you might eat him, so I made him stay behind.’
His sharp eyes remained on her, calculating. Trying to see what she wanted from him, she guessed.
She sighed.
‘All right, so I’m actually pretty short on family members, and you look cool. Plus, this place really needs decorating. Are you more of a purple or a green guy, by the way?’
Eirikr blinked.
‘You are back,’ he repeated—just a quiet whisper.
Then she understood. He’d doubted her existence at first, suspecting she was an illusion. A fantasy.
She wondered how many times he’d dreamed of this. Not her, specifically, but someone, anyone, coming down here for a chat. There was nothing in this cave. Nothing at all. He’d been entirely forsaken for centuries.
Regardless of what he might have done, he didn’t deserve that. No one did.
‘If you could get out of here,’ she said, ‘what would you do?’
Eirikr had never lied to her, and although he might have then, he chose not to.
‘Destroy the world as you know it. Probably. Although I definitely want to try Starbucks first.’
She sighed.
‘Fortunately, it’s not a matter you’ll need to concern yourself with anytime soon, little daughter. I cannot get out of here. Only the witch who cast me out in the first place can undo this spell, and she’s long returned to dust.’
Chloe nodded and opened the smallest and most important of her three boxes. She couldn’t get him out of here, but she could make his life a little more comfortable. She pulled out a bag of synthesized vampire blood.
‘I know. Not quite Starbucks.’
Eirikr was speechless for a beat, but he wasn’t one to remain so for long.
He smirked and reached out for the bag.
‘It’ll do.’
