Never Ending Love 5
1606 Words
Caradoch
“What’s going on here?” The moment I stepped into the massive dining room, my eyes went to the three women who did not belong. They were sitting at the head of the table that seated much of our coven. All except, it seemed, Cassandra, although the eldest of the strangers was sitting in her seat. In fact, Cassandra was nowhere to be seen.
“Caradoch?” The elder woman with the white perm and the steely gaze met my eyes with immunity. And I felt my blood freeze. Centuries old vampire or not, I didn’t want to cross her because I knew instantly what she was.
A Daughter of Cain.
They had found us again.
That wasn’t really surprising. I was more surprised that it had taken them this long. But that didn’t mean I liked it. It felt like an omen. Had they been the ones that I’d heard sneaking around the derelict house where I had hidden Thana? Were some of their members even now liberating her from her basement prison? I had no way of knowing until I went back. Which I couldn’t do until this mess was sorted out.
“You know my name.” I bent my body in a bow, something that, when I had been human, would have been considered gallant, but these days felt odd. Maybe it was the jeans and shirt? “But I do not know yours. Pray, tell me who I—”
She threw up a hand, silencing me. “I am Margarete.” She said it like the name should mean something to me. It didn’t.
“What can we do for you, Margarete?” Dragging back a chair, I took a seat, forcing myself to appear relaxed and easygoing. The Daughters of Cain were excellent hunters. Each one of them trained for years to call themselves a Daughter. They were dangerous, and they saw much more than most hunters. If they suspected for a second that I was hiding something from them, they wouldn’t stop until they found out what.
“Just a friendly check in on you all. You left the city so quickly. And people are looking for you.”
I raised an eyebrow. “What people?”
Steepling her hands on the long table, she peered at me.
“Where is your sire, Caradoch?” The words came from one of the younger women who stood like some sort of guard at Margarete’s shoulder. “Where is Cassandra? Off making ravenous newborns, or is she kidnapping and killing innocent women this morning?”
“Molly,” Margarete admonished softly. “Forgive my daughter. She speaks out of turn. What happened in New York was a sad state of affairs, wasn’t it? No one is insinuating that your sire is breaking any rules.”
“I am glad to hear it.” I nodded, looking around the table at my coven. Each one of their faces was impassive; they knew as well as me how dangerous our situation was. “What happened with the newly turned was unfortunate and it will not happen again. You have nothing to worry about. We have no immediate plans to return to the city.”
Margarete nodded thoughtfully. “That is good to know, Caradoch. Will you stay local? Perhaps even revamp…” she laughed shrilly at her own play on words, “the Cirque?”
“Yes,” I said without hesitation.
Nothing had been decided, not really, but she was forcing my hand.
“We are going to set up here on the grounds,” I motioned around. “A real circus this time, suitable for children and families. A mystical wonderland of…” I trailed off. Cassandra was going to be pissed, but it was a good idea.
“That is good. But there is a problem. A British coven is looking for one of their own and they think she was in the Cirque the night of our little raid.”
I stilled, my body turning into ice. “There were a lot of people there that night,” I said non-committedly.
“Yes, but this one is important to you. A little witch by the name of Thana.”
Even her name made me react physically. There was no hiding it. So I didn’t even try to. “Thana was there?”
“You didn’t sense her?” Margarete was studying me like a bug under a microscope. “How long has it been since you last laid eyes on the woman you once swore yourself to?”
“Centuries.” The desperation in my voice was real. It had been centuries until that night.
“I see. Well, she is missing. And the last place she was seen was at your show. Her sister came to us for help.”
“Her sister? I see.” I entwined my fingers and stared at them. “And this sister thinks I’ve harmed Thana in this reincarnation?”
“Haven’t you?”
“It wouldn’t be the first time she has died at your hands,” Molly snapped.
I didn’t like her. And if the look on her face was anything to go by, the feeling was mutual.
“How many times have you killed your mate, Caradoch?” She ignored the pained look on her mother's face.
“Once,” I admitted. “Before I knew what a mate was. I have not harmed her since that day. I have tried my best to stay away from her in all of her reincarnations.”
“Because you are afraid of the curse.”
Molly laughed.
No one else did. The curse? The one that kept Thana's soul coming back to die young and beautiful over and over again? It seemed more of a curse on her than me. Most of her reincarnations I hadn’t even realised she had been reborn. There had been a few times over the years where the mark had appeared on my skin and my powers had weakened, but it hadn’t lasted long. Thana had always died again.
And maybe that was the curse placed on me. Forever doomed to watch the woman I had both loved and betrayed die over and over again.
“Where is Cassandra?” Margarete said, suddenly breaking through my thoughts. “She is missing, and so is the young witch. Molly is right, it would not be the first time she has come to harm from your sire. Cassandra has been taking out the only threat to her place in your affections for centuries.”
“I am not Cassandra’s keeper,” I reminded her with a strained smile. “She is mine. Ours.” I motioned around the table.
“No one here knows where this Thana is,” a voice to my left snapped. I didn’t have to turn to know who it was. Valentina was all dark hair, dark eyes and even darker anger. She always had been. At least, ever since I had met her. She was the only vampire in the Cirque apart from Cassandra who was older than me.
Older but not stronger.
“Valentina,” I warned, my voice like steel.
But she ignored me. “And you coming here is an insult to our master and our coven. We have broken no rules. We should rip you apart for even insinuating it.”
“Enough, Valentina,” I snapped. And it was like a wind whipped around her, lifting her dark hair from her face. “The Daughters have come to us as friends and they will leave as friends.”
She pouted like she was a child and not so old that she had already been old at the birth of this country.
Not that it wasn’t tempting to take the three hunters out, though. Them being in town was going to make things dangerous for all of us. It wouldn’t even be that hard. We outnumbered them ten to one. Skilled fighters or not, they would succumb.
But it would be pointless. We might kill these three, but they would keep coming. They always kept coming. The Daughters of Cain would only go away when they thought we had nothing else to hide.
“We are legion. We are many.”
I swallowed. Yeah, that was an understatement. “We at the Desir Du Cirque have nothing to hide. Please tell Thana's sister that she has come to no harm here.”
At least that was the truth.
Margarete’s eyes narrowed into slits. “I hope you are telling me no lies, Caradoch. In this life, we will not allow Thana to be harmed. Not by you and not by Cassandra.”
She wasn’t telling me something: she tried to hide it, but it shone out of her eyes. “Is this reincarnation important somehow? The Daughters of Cain have never been bothered before.”
Margarete laughed, standing up. “Tell Cassandra I would dearly like to speak to her. When she is available, of course. We are staying in town for a little while. And Caradoch,” she reached out and touched my arm with her liver-spotted hands, “if you see Thana, it’s best that you get a message to us. If she dies, then the Daughters of Cain will hold you personally responsible.”
I swallowed down her words and said nothing. There was nothing I could say. It wasn’t a threat I could respond to because it wasn’t a threat at all. The Daughters of Cain didn’t make threats.
They made promises.
- Writer
