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
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
Nissa’s words started to come quickly, as if she had waited so long to tell the story to
“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 lot. You have no idea how hard it was for Christopher to give it up, no idea how tempting every human being in this entire school is.
“I have given everything for my brothers, and they have both saved my life more than once when I wasn’t strong enough to defend myself from others of my kind. I would probably never forgive myself for harming a friend—and I do consider you a friend, Sarah—but if you hurt my brother, I
Sarah flinched at the passion in Nissa’s voice. “I can’t let Nikolas live.”
“Sarah, please—” Nissa broke off, as if knowing there was nothing she could say. The vampire disappeared, but Sarah would not allow her determination to waver.
She threw out the rose Nikolas had sent with the invitation. Nissa had taken the card, but Sarah remembered the necessary information. The bash would be tonight, at 129 Ash Road. It wasn’t the same house she had found before, but considering his age and notoriety, Sarah was not surprised that Nikolas had more than one.
She wouldn’t miss this for the world.
If Nissa was telling the truth, then Sarah would only be in danger from Nikolas . . . until she took him down. There was no need to endanger other hunters. If Nikolas knew who her allies were, he would alert the group immediately, and the other hunters would not have even the scant protection that Nikolas’s marks gave to Sarah.
CHAPTER 17
SARAH FELT A LITTLE GUILTas she lied to Adianna, telling her that she was going to hunt in the relatively safe city.
She wore black jeans and a white tank top, and her jacket hid the bandages, as well as the knife on her left wrist. Her primary knife was on her back, and she had two slim silver daggers in her boots.
Nikolas was playing with her, which meant he would give her a chance to fight. As soon as she had that chance, she would use it. This time there would be no hesitation.
The house appeared dark as Sarah approached it. All the shades were down, but she could hear a haunting melody from inside, a mixture of pain and loneliness. The door opened just as she reached for the knob, and she was again confronted with the peculiar—and powerful—world of Nikolas.
The walls were black with a white design running across them, spiraling and plunging, the lines all slightly wrong, drawing the eye to seemingly impossible shapes. The other house she had seen had been crisp in its lack of color; the abstraction in this one made Sarah’s vision spin, so she turned to the vampire who had opened the door for her.
Kaleo’s red shirt in the black-and-white interior of Nikolas’s house was a startling blot of color. Sarah tensed as she remembered her last encounter with him.
“Sarah Vida, nice to see you again,” he said, his voice lilting with sarcasm as she met his black gaze without fear. “Nikolas told us to expect you. You can relax, take your jacket off, and make yourself at home. It’s only eleven.”
“I don’t make myself at home in a place like this,” she answered, and he just laughed and reached over to close the door behind her.
“Sarah, so good to see you.”
She looked toward the voice, but her eyes took a moment to differentiate the figure there from the background.
