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The other six vampires were astonished at being amongst what were considered being legends and held their tongues.

“If what you say is true, then we’ll need more help than what we have here,” Ricardus suggested thoughtfully.

“Ricardus, I’ll put a call out. They’ll answer me were, no offence, they would ignore you,” Li’zel replied gently to Amelia.

“Don’t worry, wewillget James out,” Ami added reassuringly.

I was thankful that they were listening to Amelia and taking what she said on board. None looked at me, which wasn’t that surprising. The Vam’pirs didn’t understand the circumstances behind Julia’s death. They remained convinced that I had killed Julia for kicks.

Warily, I decided not to approach anyone and kept my distance. They did the same, and there was an obvious chill between us. The situation didn’t improve when Seti and Antonio arrived with Suzan.

“I could not contact Julius or Ana, and there is no response from Tobais, Pal, Mera, or Kait and Pari.”

“We’re here,” a voice said from the darkness, and Kait and Pari emerged from the surrounding trees. “Emil and Raymone are on their way. Mihal and Eduardo, we cannot reach, which is unusual.”

“What about Diana and Curtan?” Li’zel inquired, frowning. “They would not ignore a call from us. Well, they’d ignore one of us,” she added, with a stab in my direction.

I felt like shouting and screaming the reasons for why I’d killed Julia. Instead, I bit my tongue and caused blood to flow.

For the way they treated me, Vam’pirs did not deserve the truth. They had judged me out of hand. Nobody had asked for anexplanation. No, my family was happy to believe the worst. So be it.

“This is of grave concern. They would not ignore an SOS call. Something must be wrong. How many rooms did you see? Are you sure nobody else was with James?” Kait asked.

Amelia looked at me for reassurance. I nodded back, and she seemed puzzled as the others still ignored me. I sensed the question before Amelia asked and I shook my head, and she left the questions unasked.

The other six vampires looked confused, too. They were too overwhelmed by the novelty of being among the first born of our race to ask questions though.

“You have no idea how they captured James?” Nathan questioned.

“No, all I know is that he disappeared three weeks ago. I have been searching for him since. Jacques and I found James here, and we need to free him, please.”

“We will, do not worry about, dear heart,” Raymone said from the shadows as he and Emil walked forward.

I got the expected response from them, and then they sat down to try to work out a strategy. The idiots decided to just walk in and reclaim what was ours.

Brilliant! The plan reflected considerable forethought—not. Naturally, I didn’t consider that too good an idea, but they ignored my comments. So, I tagged along at the back with Amelia and the six vampires. Amelia was now looking a little angry with them and their attitude towards me.

“If it wasn’t for you, we would not know James was here,” Amelia whispered, and I saw Nathan twitch.

Nathan had overheard and wasn’t too pleased by the looks of it.

“This goes back a long time. Amelia, I don’t let it bother me anymore.”

“Jaq, I’ve heard the legends. You must have had your reasons,” Amelia still defended me.

“I did, and tragically, they were valid ones. But those remain between Julia and me. This is not the moment. The thing that Vam’pirs won’t forgive me for is the fact that I drained her blood so Julia couldn’t escape from her bonds.”

Now you understand why the other Vam’pir’s obeyed my directive to stay out of London. I had the blood of two Vam’pirs in my veins.

I wasundoubtedlythe strongest Vam’pir alive.

“Oh, I see. Julia, was that dangerous?”

“Very,” I replied.

Nathan looked at me with such hatred that my heart broke. Never before had he looked at me like that in our entire lives. Rejection from Nathan, fuelled by hate, was especially painful, but I shoved the pain aside.

Nathan turned back, and with the Vam’pirs, they entered the lift and descended into the laboratories. Opening my senses, I touched something and quickly pulled the others back. Amelia and the six stared at me in confusion.