Page 24 of Blood Legacy (Eternal Descent (MistHallow Academy) #1)

24

LUKE

The silence in the room after Aurelius leaves is deafening. I stare at the closed door, momentarily stunned by his parting words. His blessing?

Gaida turns to me, her blue eyes blazing. “I can’t unpack that, yet. Back to you. You’ve been running from Lucius for a millennium?”

Relieved that she hasn’t been deterred, yet somehow pissed off we are in this position, I sit behind my desk, needing the physical barrier between us. The weight of centuries presses down on me as I consider how much to tell her. How much is safe for her to know.

“Yes,” I finally say. “Though ‘running’ isn’t quite accurate. I’ve been hiding, strategically.”

She snorts, and I allow a small smile before it fades. “For a thousand years.” She shakes her head in disbelief. “And in all that time, he’s never found you?”

“Oh, he’s found me. Several times.” I trace a pattern on my desk absently. “Each time, I’ve escaped. Each time, there was a cost.”

“What kind of cost?”

I look up at her, seeing the determination in her stance. She won’t leave without answers, and perhaps it’s time she had some. “Lives. Always lives. Never mine—that would be too merciful. He takes what I care about.”

Gaida moves closer, her hand resting on the edge of my desk. “Is that why you push everyone away?”

“Partly,” I admit, leaning back in my chair. “It’s a survival tactic. Mine and theirs.”

She steps around the desk, invading my space in a way that sends my instincts into overdrive. Her scent wraps around me—sweet, intoxicating, dangerous.

“Then why teach at MistHallow?” she asks. “Why surround yourself with students, with staff? Isn’t that risky?”

“It’s why I originally sought it after I arrived here,” I say quietly, watching for her reaction. “It’s my greatest defence against him. The wards here are ancient and powerful, drawn from sources he can’t corrupt. It’s the one place I can... breathe.”

“And me? Where do I fit into all this?”

I close my eyes briefly. “You shouldn’t fit at all. That was the plan.”

“The plan? What plan?”

“To keep you at arm’s length. To never let you close enough to become a target.” I open my eyes, finding her directly before me now. “I failed spectacularly at that, didn’t I?”

“Why me specifically? There are hundreds of students here.”

I stand suddenly, unable to remain seated with her so close. We’re inches apart now, and I can see the pulse fluttering in her neck and hear the blood rushing through her veins.

“You are a pureblood vampire?—”

“Don’t give me that bullshit!”

I hold my hand up, annoyed at the interruption. “Let me finish,” I grit out. “You are a pureblood vampire, from a long line of the pureblood vampires. Your family, Dante’s, Corvus’s, and a handful of others not here at MistHallow, are special in this world. But you…”

“Me what?”

“Don’t you follow the pattern?”

“What pattern?” she asks, getting pissed off.

“You are the only female not bonded. The rest are male.”

She blinks as she takes that in. “Okay, so pureblood genetics is biased towards guys.”

“And guys cannot breed new pureblood vampires.”

I see the look of disgust on her face at the choice of word. It was deliberate, so she can truly see what is going on here. “Breed?” she chokes out. “That is what Lucius wants?”

“It’s his endgame. To father a half pureblood.”

“But that doesn’t make sense. Half is still half. A halfblood.”

“That is not an accurate term to use in this case.”

“So a half pureblood, which still sounds like an oxymoron, and he wants to use me to get it. To start a new line that would eventually morph into a pureblood line, I’m guessing?”

I nod. “But that is not all. It is the icing on the cake. The cake being me, his desire to break me and to destroy the things I care about.”

“Where do you come from?” she asks carefully, ignoring my cake analogy.

“Your father had no right to tell you any of that.”

“If this involves that creep, then he had every right. I need to know what I’m supposed to defend myself from.”

I sigh and rub my hand over my face, exhaustion hitting me hard. I haven’t slept in weeks, and all I feel like doing now is crawling into my bed that still smells like Gaida and sleeping for eternity. “There are parallel universes. Dimensions that exist in the network of realms that are different from ours. Some are very similar, others are vastly different. The one constant is the creatures in those worlds, even if they, too, are different.”

“Parallel universes? So, a place like here but with another me and another you?” She sits on the desk right in front of me. I lean back to create a distance between us, but it doesn’t help.

“Yes.”

“And you and Lucius are from one of these worlds?”

“Yes.”

“Fuck.”

For once, I don’t bother correcting her. There just isn’t another word for it.

“What is it like in your world?” Her curiosity is endearing.

“Very different. I chose this one because of the lack of actual parallels.”

“So you came here first, and Lucius followed you?”

“Found me.”

She nods. “Is that why you are so powerful?”

“My sire’s sire is the oldest vampire in existence in that world. He is nearly three thousand years old. Their hierarchy is vastly different to what we have here. The Firsts and the system that runs down from them isn’t how their world works.”

“Their world?”

“It’s not mine anymore.”

“So, how are you different?”

“In many ways, I am the same, but my ability to keep my mage magick is obviously from there. I was turned in the usual way.”

“Where is the Luke Blackthorn that is native to this world?”

I swallow, knowing it would come up. “He is dead.”

“Is that why you can walk around here without consequences?”

“Yes. The realities don’t like two beings cut from the same cloth in the same space.”

“Makes sense. Did you kill him so you could be here and not there?”

Her blunt question makes me choke on my saliva. “Erm, no, I did not. He was already dead.”

“A thousand years ago?”

“Yes.”

“And Lucius’s counterpart?”

“Also dead.”

“Did you kill him?”

“Yes. That is when I realised that things weren’t the same here.”

“What does that mean?”

“I thought it was my sire. I felt no pain, no agony at murdering my own sire, so I researched.”

“Was he innocent?”

“No one is innocent,” I reply, my voice flat. “But he was not as guilty as my true sire. The Lucius of your world was a vampire who turned twenty humans in his lifetime and lived a relatively quiet existence. He was no saint, but he wasn’t a monster.”

Gaida’s eyes widen slightly. “And your real sire? The one hunting you?”

I turn away from her, unable to bear the weight of her gaze. “He’s turned thousands. He’s tortured millions. He’s destroyed entire civilisations for sport.”

“That seems excessive,” she says, and the understatement almost makes me laugh.

“You have no idea.”

“So why didn’t his sire put him down?”

“That is a question you’d have to ask Constantine.”

“You don’t sound bitter about it.”

“It’s not his problem.”

“Sounds like it is.”

I shake my head with a soft laugh. “Not really how it works. Constantine is responsible for siring a third of the vampire population on his earth. In recent years, the regime has changed to something I’m unfamiliar with and have no desire to learn about, but he has mellowed. A lot. He doesn’t take much interest in anything outside of his family now. He is the only vampire on that earth that can father a pureblood vampire, with his vampire wife.”

“Really?” She raises her eyebrow. “So he is pretty special then.”

“You could say that.”

“Does it get passed down?”

“No. I am not special.”

“Wrong.” Her soft response warms my cold insides. “So you took over dead Luke’s life? Or did you just fit in when you knew he had passed?”

“I took it over. It was the only way to keep a backstory that originated back to the beginning.”

“Makes sense,” she murmurs and then narrows her eyes. “Vex Blackwell. Is he really your nephew?”

“No. He was other Luke’s, as well as Adelaide. Violet belongs to his twin brother who vanished not long after I arrived here. They are not my kin but his.”

Her face constricts into something painful for a split second. “So you never bore a child who gave you a granddaughter?” Her voice is a croak, and I see the flash of jealousy. I’m glad that I can reassure her, for what it’s worth.

“No. That wasn’t me. I care for them like my own, but I am not their true kin.” I place a finger to my lips, and she nods.

“You can trust me,” she says seriously. “I won’t say a word.”

“Not even to Mr DuLoc and your new sorcerer friend?” I can’t bring myself to say his name. I should’ve known that man would bring me grief the second I agreed to give him a chance here. I didn’t know it would be in the personal sense.

I try to keep my expression neutral, but just the thought of Felix’s hands on her makes my blood boil.

Gaida sighs, her expression conflicted. “Not even to them,” she agrees reluctantly. “But they’re involved now. Dante because of who he is, and Felix because of...” She trails off, her cheeks flushing slightly.

“Because of what?” I press, even though I already know the answer. I saw them together in the clearing, felt the magickal connection sparking between them.

She looks down at her hands. “There’s something between us. A soul bond, he called it.”

A soul bond? Of course. It explains the immediate connection, the overwhelming attraction. I’ve seen such bonds before, rare as they are. Unbreakable, profound, destined.

“I see,” I manage to say, my voice carefully controlled so I don’t give anything away. “And do you believe that?”

“I don’t know what to believe anymore,” she admits. “Everything’s happening so fast. You, Dante, now Felix. And somewhere out there, a monster from another dimension wants to use me as a broodmare.” She laughs bitterly. “My life has become absurdly complicated in a matter of weeks.”

I move without thinking, reaching out to cup her face. Her skin is cool beneath my fingers, and she leans into my touch instinctively. I move my hand around the back of her neck and pull her onto my lap. She straddles me, looking at me with those deep blue eyes, “About what Aurelius said?—”

She places her fingers on my lips. “Don’t,” she whispers. “Don’t dismiss this. Us.”

I pull her hand away from my mouth and kiss her palm. “I can’t dismiss us, Gaida. I’ve tried, and it’s ripped me apart. But I’m scared.” I nearly choke on the word.

“What of?”

“Losing you to him,” I murmur. “It would be the end of me.”

“I didn’t think the great Luke Blackthorn could get scared.” She leans forward, brushing her lips against mine.

My fingers tangle in her hair, and I pull her closer. “Only over you.”

Our lips meet in a kiss so profound, I know I will do anything to protect her, but I have to have her. The consequences will come, but there is no backing away from this now. Not ever.