Page 11 of Last Hope
He stared at her incredulously and blinked. “I am?” That was a first. He had expected her to hurl a lamp at him, telling him that Isis was their friend and there was no way they could abandon her, not now.
She nodded. “You’re right. We’re not children anymore, Antonio, I get that. We have a new life to protect and if we are with Isis all of the time or even near her Viktor’s life might be put in danger. I understand and I’ll accept. A vacation would be good for all of us.”
He released the breath of stress he had been holding and smiled. “That was easier than I thought.” He chuckled. “I like this new submissive side of you.”
She rolled her eyes and swatted his arm. “Well, don’t get used to it.”
He chuckled and pulled her in for a slow kiss. Her mouth tasted sweet in his, and it was familiar and comforting. He smiled against her lips and she pulled away, frowning; which, for a moment, worried him.
“I’m worried about Isis.” Tears formed around her eyes. Instinctively, he reached out for her and pulled her head to his chest, inhaling the scent of her hair, inhaling the scent ofher, the scent of life itself. “I can’t believe this is happening to her—again!”
“I wish there was some way we could help her, hide her away or something.” Antonio offered.
Esmeralda tensed in his arms and pulled back, her eyes suddenly shining. “That’s a brilliant idea!” she exclaimed, gripping the edge of his shirt with trembling fingers. “We should tell her to go into hiding, just until this whole thing blows over!”
Antonio contemplated this for a moment. “Itisa good idea,” he murmured. “But you know she’ll never go for it, don’t you? She’ll be determined to look for her brother…”
“I know. But if the attacks get any worse…I’m afraid she won’t have a choice…”
Antonio could only agree.
* * *
Anya watchedIsis stir in her sleep. It was like this every time the sun rose. She would fall into her death-sleep and nightmares would breach her mind. Dreaming about Caesareon, no doubt; either that or she was having a reoccurring nightmare about her younger brother. Whatever the case, Anya didn’t want to slip into the same horror that Isis saw; it would have been too hard to bear.
She placed her hand against Isis’s warm forehead. She was sweating and her breathing was uneven, her lips moving, mouthing her brother’s name over and over again. With a sigh, Anya got up out of bed and went to the kitchen. Nothing a good sleeping potion couldn’t fix.
She got out the herbs and spices she was so familiar with and began mixing them into a wooden bowl she had brought with her when she had gone to live with Isis. It was always handy to have her potions close in case she needed to whip up something quick and easy. By the time she was finished, the smell of warm mint filled the kitchen, as well as her nostrils.
Anya had spent enough time with Isis now to know Natural Born vampires couldn’t withstand normal human food or drink. But Isis wasn’t a Natural Born. She had been created and she could tolerate the potion in her system, although Anya knew what would have made it tastier for her Soul Mate.
She reached into a drawer and pulled out a sharp kitchen knife. Without thinking about it, she swiped the blade across her wrist, slitting it open in a clean line. Blood pooled out and Anya quickly placed her wrist over the bowl, allowing the sleeping potion to be filled with her blood. The clear smoky liquid in the wooden bowl changed as soon as her blood touched it, turning a smoky pink hue, giving the air a minty copper smell.
Satisfied, she held the bowl in her hands and was about to make her way to the bedroom when the sound of glass breaking caught her attention. She stared in the kitchen. Had she dropped something? Everything looked like it was in order…
And then the adrenaline rushed to her brain. Glass…windows…she rushed to the bedroom, dropping the bowl to the floor, its contents scattering, nearly causing her to trip onto the hardwood. Luckily, she maintained her balance until she reached the bedroom and nearly screamed.
The bedroom window was broken, glass in puddles, as if it were water, on the floor. The thick purple drapes were knocked to the ground and the sunlight was blasting in, shining down straight on Isis’s body.
Her body was smoking, as if it were about to catch fire. Welts formed on her skin, bubbling up and popping, blood oozing out of them. But Anya wasted no time. She rushed to Isis’s side, pulling the thick curtain with her, and threw it over her body as a protective shield against the sun. Any longer and Isis would have caught fire, turned to ashes, any longer and Isis would have been dead.
What the hell happened?Anya turned to the window. Who would have broken the glass? Was it some kid trying to play a joke? If so, it wasn’t funny, and if she found out who it was, she would cast a spell on them, so dark, they’d wake up with maggots growing in their stomach.
But she couldn’t leave Isis in that room. She had to get her out, the question was, how? Anya contemplated carrying her for a moment when out of the corner of the room, movement caught her eye. She focused her vision on it and held the scream in her throat as a massive snake sprung from the ground, jaws gaping, striking with deadly swiftness…
Anya dodged the snake as expertly as she could manage, stepping sideways. There was a loudthumpbehind her, the snake hitting the wall. She tried not to slip as she ran forward, rushing to reach for something to defend herself with, like a lamp or a pair of scissors or something. But she felt dry scales wrap around her ankle and yank her off of her feet.
She fell forward, hitting her chin against the floor causing her teeth to clang together and her head to spin. Nausea nearly overwhelmed her, but not to the point where she couldn’t roll over just in time to see the snake strike at her again. She screamed when its gaping jaws hovered above her face, the musky scent of its breath burning her cheeks.
Anya lifted her hands up to defend herself. She swatted at the thing, her brain rushing through her mental book of spells and curses trying to find one, just one that could help her. She could freeze him, like she had the werewolf, but that would have drained her of energy especially considering she was already pretty weak. She just wanted to knock him back from her, and then kill him.
His teeth nicked her hands, splitting the skin open and causing blood to pour out and fire to course through her veins. Already she could feel the poison entering her system, draining her of what little energy she had left.
When her mind finally clicked on a spell she could use, the words came out of her lips on a breath, unfortunately ridding her of the will to keep her eyes open. The weight of the snake was thrown off of her, though she knew she didn’t kill it. And all she could think about as her mind drifted off into poisonous unconsciousness was Isis, oblivious underneath the covers as to what was going on around her. The last sound she heard before she passed out was that of a dog barking, somewhere in the distance…
* * *
Esmeralda staredup at the ceiling with curiosity.Now, if only I had a ladder,she thought to herself. She wondered how it was she had never noticed it before, a small attic door on the ceiling in the hallway. Then again, she was never good at noticing small details, so it wasn’t such a big surprise that shehadn’tseen it before. Now, all she could think of was opening said door.
