CHAPTER 24

ALL THREE OF THEM jumped at the knock on the door.

“Who is it?” Robert called.

“Is Sarah in there? It’s Nissa — I need to talk to her —”

Robert had opened the door before Sarah could tell him otherwise. Sarah fell back into a fighting stance, unsure what Nissa wanted.

“Sarah, I’m glad I tracked you down. Nikolas is calling for your blood. What the hell did you do to Christopher?”

“I did what I needed to do to survive,” Sarah answered, but Nissa’s attention had left her and moved onto Kristin, who was huddled in a corner, sobbing.

“God …” Nissa looked at the marks on Kristin’s arms, and then said, “Nikolas didn’t do this to her. These are his marks, but he would never … leave someone like this.”

Robert frowned. “If he didn’t, who did?”

“What are you doing here?” Nissa asked, as if just realizing that the human boy was in the room.

“I live here,” he answered. “And since you’re in my house, maybe you should answer my questions.”

Nissa just shook her head. “What happened to her?”

“Why do you care?”

“Why do I care?” Nissa said between her teeth. “I care because she is a living human being, and she’s …” She shook her head violently, and then put a hand on Kristin’s shoulder. The girl looked up at Nissa, who caught her eye.

Kristin screamed again, bolting from Nissa’s hold.

“What the hell did you do to her?” Robert demanded.

“I just tried to find the memories of what caused … that,” Nissa spat, looking at Kristin. “I should have known this is the kind of mess Kaleo would leave behind.”

“Kaleo?” Robert repeated. “Who the hell is Kaleo?”

Nissa laughed, a pained sound, but she did not answer. Instead, she turned back to Kristin, who was sitting silently in the corner, terrified. “I don’t think I can help her. Kaleo has her blood bonded to himself, and I’m not strong enough to reach her mind through that.”

“You mean someone stronger could help her?” Robert asked, catching the unspoken statement.

“I don’t know exactly what caused this, but if someone could reach her mind through all the mess he’s put in there, they could help.”

Robert stalked over to where Nissa was standing. “I don’t want to know what you are or what relation to Nikolas you have. If you can help my sister, or get someone who can, I don’t care if you’re the devil herself.”

Nissa shook her head. “I don’t think —”

“Please. If you know how to help her, you have to. She wasn’t like this before. She was … colorful. Alive. Intelligent. Kind. She had dreams. But the monster who did this took all that away.”

“I know someone who would be strong enough to help her,” Nissa said slowly, but she looked over Robert’s shoulder and met Sarah’s gaze. “But he —”

“Then get him to do it!” Robert ordered, but Sarah was very slowly shaking her head.

“Sarah?” Nissa left the rest of the question unspoken.

“Would he help?” Sarah asked quietly. “Or would he do more damage than Kaleo did?”

“I think he would help,” Nissa answered, and Sarah nodded.

“Fine, then.” She was leaving sanity in the hands of the insane. Since when were the monsters called in to heal the innocent?

Nissa disappeared, and Robert shouted, “That … that …”

“Was one of the simplest vampire tricks you will ever see. She could be in China now with no more effort than you would use to blink.”

Robert sat down, his legs folding under him.

“Is she gone?” Kristin whispered as she lifted her head.

“For the moment,” Robert answered, still dazed.

While Nissa was gone, Sarah drew the knife from the sheath on her back, unsure what was going to happen once she reappeared.

“What’s that for?” Robert asked, nervous.

“Just in case I need it,” she answered. She moved so her back was to a wall, and crossed her arms. She could defend herself if necessary, but she didn’t want to start a fight if Nikolas was going to help Kristin.

“You just carry that thing around?”

“This and two others,” Sarah answered. “Sometimes more. It depends whether the knife sheaths match my outfit.”

Robert looked at her as if she might be crazy, but then seemed to realize she was making a joke. He didn’t realize that she was also telling the complete truth — she tried to wear as many knives as her outfit would safely hide.

Then Nissa reappeared with Nikolas and everything happened at once.

Robert’s eyes narrowed as he realized who Nikolas must be — black and white.

Sarah and Nikolas locked glares, and he took a step toward her.

Nissa stepped between Nikolas and Sarah.

Kristin vaulted across the room and fell at Nikolas’s feet.

Nikolas’s attention snapped away from Sarah as he pulled Kristin up, looking at her quizzically Sarah could see recognition in his eyes.

“Christine,” he recalled aloud.

The girl did not argue the name, but instead nodded, leaning against him. Nikolas tensed for a moment, and then put a comforting arm around her, looking over her to where Robert was standing.

“You’re the brother?” Robert nodded. “I sent Christine home. What happened to her?”

Robert opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again. “I thought …”

“She told us what happened up until you sent her off,” Sarah said. “Then she broke down, hysterical. Nissa said Kaleo did this.” Since when did Nikolas turn into a cuddly sweetheart? Sarah wondered cynically seeing the tenderness with which Nikolas held Kristin.

Nikolas’s eyes narrowed. “It would be like him.” He looked around the room, taking in the lack of color, perhaps seeing even more in it than Sarah had. “This isn’t his, though … Kaleo likes color, especially red.”

Kristin shivered, and put her head down on Nikolas’s chest, crying.

“She can’t stand color anymore,” Robert explained, watching his sister in Nikolas’s gentle embrace. “She screams at anything red.”

Nikolas nodded, and then returned his attention to Kristin, lifting her face.

“What happened after I sent you away, Christine?”

She shook her head violently. “No, no —”

“Christine, look at me!” Nikolas ordered. He put his hands on her shoulders and forced her to meet his gaze. Sarah heard the echo of his voice in her own mind, and she could tell that Nikolas was forcing his words into Kristin’s mind as he spoke aloud. “You’re … safe, Christine. No one is going to hurt you. Calm down.”

Kristin relaxed a bit as his mind reached into hers, speaking his words directly to her thoughts.

“Now tell me what happened.”

“No, I —” She broke off, finally looking away from his black eyes. “You sent me away, and he took me outside … he said you didn’t care what happened to me …”

“Go on.”

“And he … he bit me, but it wasn’t like when you bit me, it hurt …” She moaned. “I tried to push him away but it just hurt more …”

She collapsed back into sobs and he put his arms around her, comforting. He ran his fingers through her hair, and Sarah saw him hesitate when he noticed the dye.

“Go on, Christine. He isn’t here; it doesn’t hurt anymore.”

“I think I blacked out, and when I woke up I was in a hospital, and people were asking me questions, about you. That’s all they cared about. The police thought you had hurt me, and I told them no, you tried to send me home, but no one would believe me. And they had an IV in me, and the blood was so red …”

She was babbling now, but Nikolas simply held her, looking over her shoulder as if he couldn’t stand to see the mess she had become.

“Christine,” he said, looking her in the eye. “It’s over now —”

“No!” She screamed it. “They keep telling me it’s over… that there’s nothing to be afraid of, that … but it is’t… it is’t …”

Now she did collapse, and Nikolas caught her easily. He whispered into her ear and she moaned in unconsciousness. Suddenly his eyes narrowed as he found something in her mind he didn’t like.

“I’ll kill him, Christine,” he said softly, speaking to the unconscious girl. “I wasn’t strong enough to protect Father, but for this, Kaleo is dead.” Looking up, he spoke to Robert. “I’m taking her with me.”

“Like hell you are!” Robert started to lunge at Nikolas, but Nikolas pulled his knife from his pocket and snapped it open, tilting it toward Robert.

“You don’t understand, boy. Kaleo has been feeding on her — not just once, but ever since he found her,” Nikolas snapped. “And he has blood bonded her to himself, which means he has complete control over her mind. I’m taking her someplace safe until I can stop him. Then, if she wants to return, I’ll bring her back.”

“Like I would believe you.”

“I never lie,” Nikolas answered, and Robert glared at him. “Normally, the humans invited to our circuit are loners — they don’t have anyone to miss them, or anyone to miss. Christine should never have been invited in the first place. Once I am satisfied she is safe, I will let her come home. I would not take her away from her brother.”

Robert was unconvinced. “Let go of my sister.”

“I was asked to help her — do you really want me to leave her here until Kaleo drives her completely insane?” Robert took a step back, but his glare didn’t soften. Nikolas sighed. “Did she ever once say I hurt her?”

“You knifed her!” Robert shouted.

“I marked her. That should have protected her from Kaleo. But I told him I didn’t care what happened to her, so long as she got home. Did she ever say I hurt her?”

“What are you trying to prove?” Robert demanded.

“I do not torture my prey the way Kaleo does.” Sarah smirked, and Nikolas commented, “As I recall, Sarah, you were trying to kill me. You’re a Daughter of Vida, and you broke into my home. I would hardly consider you prey.”

“You don’t torture your prey,” Sarah challenged. You just kill them.”

Nikolas shrugged, acknowledging the truth. “Yes, I kill. I have no reason to deny that fact.” Turning to Robert, he said, “But I will not kill Christine.” He whispered something else, and Sarah thought she might have heard him say “Again.”

“Just for the record, what happens once you’re satisfied she’s safe?” Sarah asked.

Nikolas looked up and then tossed something in her direction. She caught it instinctively, and Nikolas disappeared, taking Kristin with him.