Unafraid

the match. She was merely acting like her father, aloof and indifferent, when just the opposite was true.

“Edwige is planning to feed tomorrow,” she informed him. “With my help you can follow her to The Well and do with it whatever your heart desires.”

David could no longer resist. He turned to face his daughter and was incensed to see that she still kept her eyes on the race.

“And just how will you be able to follow Edwige to The Well?” David asked.

“I have a secret weapon,” Brania replied.

David knew better than to ask what Brania’s secret weapon was. His only chance of finding out was to let his daughter think she had the upper hand.

“Excellent,” David replied tersely. “Then the time has come for you to be appropriately rewarded.”

“I was hoping you’d say that,” Brania replied, finally deigning to look at her father. “I’d like my reward beforehand, and since I know you’re such a busy man, I’ve taken the liberty of picking out the perfect gift.”

David hated giving in to anyone, especially a woman, but he had no choice. Brania, for the moment was in control. “What would you like in return?” David asked. “Say the word, and your wish will be granted.”

“I think it’s time that you made another sacrifice,” Brania replied.

The word made David shudder. They both knew its significance. Somehow David understood that his daughter knew that he had sacrificed the life of his sister to ensure the fulfillment of his own desires. And Brania knew that David wouldn’t want his secret to be learned by the masses. Even vampires have an ethical code, and the brutal murder of one’s blind sister sort of crossed that line.

Brania thought it was the perfect time to cross another.

“I want to be an only child again,” she said, clutching the white rose that she had tucked inside her skirt pocket. “I’d like you to kill Jean-Paul.”

“What!?” David cried.

The race culminated in a Double A victory so David’s outburst went unnoticed by those around him.

His shock, however, delighted his daughter.

“Please, Father,” she said. “Remember to use your inside voice.”

Brania’s words kept repeating in his mind over and over again, like a record player whose needle had gotten caught in a groove. Kill Jean-Paul. Kill Jean-Paul. Kill Jean-Paul. How could she be so cruel to expect me to kill my own son? The answer came to him so quickly and with such brutal honesty that David had to grip his knees to stop his hands from shaking. Because you taught her well.

Indeed he had. Just like he had sacrificed his sister for the good of his people, he now had to sacrifice his son. The end—destruction of The Well, end of water vamps—would surely justify the means. There was only one problem: David couldn’t trust his daughter.

“How do I know you’ll keep your end of the bargain?” David asked her.

“You don’t,” she replied. Hardly the answer he was looking for. “You’ll just have to take my word for it.”

Damn her! There wasn’t any other way! This Imogene girl was linked to Edwige; she was the only one who could lead them to The Well, and she was under Brania’s control. There was a very good chance Brania would double cross him, but it was a chance that he had to take. Unfortunately, if he thought about it much longer, the chance would slip by. “Remember, Edwige feeds tomorrow, so there’s no time to lollygag,” Brania had reminded him. “I’ll call for you at daybreak and expect to see Jean-Paul’s burnt ashes.”

This was treason! Blackmail! So many years David had ignored his son, preferring to dote on his daughter instead, and now that he had reconnected with Jean-Paul he was going to have to sever their ties. How could he possibly kill him? The mere thought of it was unfathomable. No, there was no way he could do that. He could, however, order his execution. Yes, that he could do. That he could do very easily. But first he would have to find an assassin.

After the first set of races was completed there was a break in the competition, and the crowd began milling about the gym. David found the person he was looking for standing alone near the windows.

“Nakano,” David said. “I have an important assignment for you.”

And just like that Nakano’s perfect day came to an end.

chapter 27

Nakano knew something was wrong, David was being way too friendly.

During their entire walk over from St. Sebastian’s to his office, David had talked nonstop, complimenting Nakano on his acrobatic exhibition, admiring how clever he had been to illustrate his incredible skills in public without calling attention to his preternatural abilities, even congratulating him on making the difficult decision to quit the swim team so he could showcase his talents appropriately. “A wise man knows when he is beaten,” David had said. “But it is the courageous man who shakes off defeat to rise to victory.”

No matter what David said, no matter how impressed or interested he might seem in Nakano’s recent achievement, there was no way that he had brought him here to philosophize about his cheerleading debut. This meeting was definitely about something else. But David was taking his sweet time revealing just what that was.

“This was given to me by a geisha I once knew,” David announced, admiring the ornate box that lived on the mantel of the fireplace. “She painted it herself.” He turned it around in his hand, gazing, searching at each side of the small, rectangular object that was decorated with a different scene—a cluster of butterflies, a waterfall, a bevy of cherry blossoms, a stony brook—all snippets of natural beauty, all delicately hand painted. “Each one of these panels reminds me of her,” he continued. “She too was an exquisite creature.” Lifting the lid, which was topped with a vibrant blue and black Wanderer butterfly, its wings opened, but frozen in flight, David took a deep breath. “And loyal.”

And just how is a stupid box loyal? Nakano thought.

David didn’t hear Kano’s question—he was peering underneath the lid, but he answered it anyway.

“She filled this container with her blood as an offering,” David said.

Well, yes, that could be considered an act of loyalty. Or stupidity, depending upon how you looked at it.

“I can still remember how she tasted. I can still smell her scent,” he recalled. “As fragrant and alive as a Japanese garden.”

Returning the piece to its rightful place, David motioned for Nakano to sit in front of the fireplace in one of the two side chairs that were made of distressed brown leather. The fabric was creased and the color faded due to age and frequent use, and as Kano sat he was struck by how the texture reminded him of David’s face. The headmaster’s typically smooth, age-defying complexion looked tired, strained as if tension and stress were lying just on the other side of his flesh. Maybe that’s why he wanted to speak with him, to get something off his chest, ask him to share his burden? Or maybe he just wanted to tell him stories about a former concubine, thinking Nakano would get all nostalgic and want to hear more anecdotes about his home country’s past.

The leather moaned slightly when David gripped the back of the chair opposite Nakano. David looked like he was going to make the same sound. “I hope you will prove yourself to be equally as loyal.”

“Haven’t I already proven my allegiance to you and our race?” Nakano sniped. “There’s no reason for my loyalty to be questioned.”

The time had come, however, for it to be tested.

Finally David relaxed a bit, as if a burden had been lifted, slightly, from his shoulders, and he smiled. “Good,” he said. “Because I want you to kill Jean-Paul Germaine.”

Something must be wrong with his hearing. There was no way Nakano had heard David correctly.

“I’m sorry,” Kano said. “You want me to do what?”