Page 37 of Love Lives
Again, my mind flashed back to the vision I'd had.
"Something wrong?" Aldrich asked, eyeing me closely.
"I'm fine," I made myself say.
"He used the stone," Elle cut in.
"He didwhat?"
I turned around at the sound of Collin's voice. I hadn't realized that half my family was standing on the stairs, watching us. Collin was holding his son and staring at me as if I'd lost my mind. "Is that why you wanted us out of the living room?" he demanded. "So we wouldn't keep you from throwing your memories away?"
"Someone had to do it," I insisted because I was not going to argue about this. Least of all with my little brother. Collin should just be glad that it wasn’t his memories that had been taken.
Jared, standing behind Collin, gave me a grim look, but didn't say anything. He didn't need to. His expression was enough to tell me he didn't approve of my actions, but he understood.
"Vlad has the third stone," I announced so we could all focus on things that were more important than one or two lost memories.
Aldrich stood, a bit shaky on his legs but determined not to let that stop him, even as he held on to the wall with one hand, leaving a bloody print on Morgan's poor tapestry. "Vlad's been recruiting vampires. I'm pretty sure it's Vlad, at least. The incubus told me before he got his friend to attack me."
"And you trust his information?" Puck asked.
"I don't think he was lying at that point," Aldrich responded. "It makes sense, doesn't it? We haven't heard from the guy in forever, even though he was so determined to see his precious little prophecy fulfilled. Then he abandoned us just like that." Aldrich snapped his fingers. "So he's obviously found something else to do with his time."
"Maybe he needs a reminder," I said.
Aldrich shook his head. "Leandra was spouting bull crap about preserving the existence of our race, so we can assume Vlad's told all the vampires that you guys are a threat to them. If he's that far gone..." Aldrich let the sentence hang, but I got the message. It was basically the same thing Puck had told me earlier. Just having a chat seemed pretty unlikely.
"I'm not in love with the thought that an ancient vampire is uniting all the covens in order to kill us," I admitted.
Luke walked down the stairs, stepping in front of Collin to be heard. "He wouldn't need all the covens to do that."
"Maybe he likes the power trip?" Aldrich suggested.
"Maybe he wants to kill not just us, butallof us," Luke said quietly. "All dhampirs. Everywhere."
Silence followed his words. The air turned thick and heavy. If Vlad's goal had shifted from wanting the prophecy to be fulfilled to making sure it would never come true...Something in me, a part I didn't even really recognize myself, rebelled at that idea. Vlad would not kill all dhampirs. He would not. Just no. He was difficult to understand and his motivations weren't always clear, but he was not a mass-murderer. He wouldn't do that. For the life of me, I couldn't tell you how I knew that, but I did.
Problem was, how was I going to convince my family of that?
Or could I find some way to talk to Vlad by myself?
"What's going on in that brain of yours?" Aldrich asked me.
"Nothing," I lied. "Just that we need to do something."
Because I never wanted to see Aldrich come home all bloody again. Even though his wound had closed, his clothes were still stained, reminding me that he could have died tonight. My heart squeezed painfully at the thought. Up until now, I realized, I'd always viewed the red-headed vampire as more or less invincible. I'd only been fooling myself. He could be just as squishy as I was.
And if that vision came true...
"I'm gonna go lie down," I announced, because I was starting to feel sick again. No way was I gonna throw up in front of my younger siblings. No way was I gonna throw upat all.
* * *
Of course, it took less than ten minutes of me retreating to my room for my Velcro vampire to follow me.
"Thought you'd be sleeping," he said as he opened the door and saw that I wasn't even attempting to get some shut-eye.
"You came after me because you thought I'd be sleeping? That's only a little bit creepy."
