Page 36 of The Curse of Eternity (Descendants of Helsing #1)
Finally out of steam, I settled back on my right foot, accidentally having shifted into a defensive stance, and glanced between the two men. Winston inhaled a long drag, and when he came up for air, he looked at Drake.
“I told you I liked her.”
Drake glanced at Winston, but his attention quickly returned to me. “I have no intention of returning to the regional Cneaz.” It didn’t sound like he was lying, and I relaxed.
“Yeah, you’ve got too much to live for now,” Winston muttered, soon hiding behind his own mug of cream-filled coffee. Olivia would have approved of that milk-to-brew ratio.
Before Winston emerged from his swig, Drake’s form blurred until he stood directly beside Winston’s lit cigarette.
Almost too fast to register, his forefinger and thumb pinched the burnt end until it went out.
He rubbed the black ash between his fingers, the digits stretched tight across the phalanges under direct sunlight, making his short nails seem longer, thinner.
Winston groaned, sneering up at Drake’s unapologetic pettiness.
I bit my lip to hide a smile. It felt too much like how Uncle Alaric often reacted whenever my cousins managed to get on their father’s nerves.
While Drake was far from my jokester uncle, the domestic to-and-fro brought on a nostalgic smile, but it faded fast. Would I ever get to see my family again?
While Winston was forced to keep his mouth closed in order to relight his cigarette, the corners of Drake’s lips twitched upward as he took advantage of the sudden silence.
“My aim going forward is to do as that damned sorcerer insisted—infiltrate the fortress of Dracula, and manage to sleuth my way past the Domnitori and their watchful eyes, where I will then acquire the ring to prevent him or any sorcerer from deducing my given location.”
Winston paused in bringing his mug to his lips, slowly lowering it to the glass-top table.
“You want to break-and-enter Poenari Castle?” Winston glanced my way, but I was just as shocked by the new plan.
“That is where the ring resides, which makes it our only option,” Drake said.
The dhampir sat up, the emotion behind his eyes hardening with sincerity. “How do you figure you’ll get from here to Arefu? It’s not like you can travel by boat or air with the damn imperials watching out for you.”
“I intend to make the journey by the same means I was meant to travel here without alerting the Cneaz.”
Winston blinked, clearly understanding whatever that meant.
“What are you talking about?” I demanded, and Drake turned to me.
“What do you know of the fae?”
“Uh, only that you should never trust one?” My limited understanding of faeries made Winston chuckle, but Drake was serious.
“Have you ever heard the tales where the fair folk lead mortals into the woodlands, never to return again?”
Brow furrowed, I nodded once.
“When faeries were being hunted into near extinction by humans a little over a millenia ago, they did not disappear entirely—obviously.” He gestured toward me, reigniting my annoyance with the faery man who’d tricked me.
“To escape persecution, faeries bound their magick together to create a realm of their own, accessible from our reality by entrances hidden across the globe.”
“Just think of it like wormholes,” Winston piped up. “You cross over from our world—here, for instance—walk a ways, and pop back out in the arctic.” Drake’s nod of agreement cut off short with a frown.
Wait a minute… “When you said ‘Arefu,’ are you talking about the place in Romania?” I asked.
Without hesitation, Drake said, “The very same.”
Suddenly lightheaded, I staggered a couple steps to lean against the deck railing.
He wanted to take us into the belly of the beast—to sneak past the Domnitori, the vampires who controlled all others in the world— and we had to cross into another realm to do it?
Damn, if I survived this, I was never poking fun at Everly’s mysticism again.
“You’ll need to barter something meaningful for a journey like that,” Winston mentioned.
“Then it is fortunate your basement contains a treasure trove or two,” Drake replied.
“You’ve got me there.” Winston sighed. “And I’ve got just the person to help strike a deal. Let me make a phone call.”
“Why don’t you just call Aiden?” I asked, shrugging when they both faced me.
“Too bloody,” Winston answered, waving the suggestion off as he stood. “I don’t feel like cleaning up.”
Stymied, I opened my mouth to ask what he meant by that, but Drake interjected, “Are you ‘game’ with this plan?” The somewhat modern term sounded unusual with the way he said it, in the most unfortunately endearing way.
“It’s our only option, right?” I shot back, and Drake hesitated before nodding. “Then I’ll do it. But I want a weapon.”
“I’m sure I’ve got something sharp and pointy in the garden shed,” Winston said, smirking on his way to the sliding glass door. “I’ll let you know what your next move is.” Shaking his phone for emphasis, he strode inside. The shush of the door sliding back into place gave way to renewed silence.
Even with the chittering of hidden wildlife all around us, the quiet suddenly seemed too full when Drake and I were left standing on Winston’s deck alone—together, whatever. To avoid looking at Drake, I tugged on the hem of my borrowed sweatshirt and cleared my throat.
“Since the cat’s out of the bag, what was your plan originally?” Steeling my courage, I faced Drake with an awkward smile. “I mean, before you got saddled down with me. You said you were going to come here?”
“Ah, yes.” Drake’s expression cleared, but his stiff posture hinted at unease.
“You see, before he sent you to find me, Aiden had originally promised me a weapon worthy of destroying any vampire within its range.
At the nature reserve, I had been waiting for him to deliver it to me and then lead me through the Summerland to come here.
“Winston already agreed to my staying for a day or so to plan, and then I would have confronted the Cneaz on my own terms. Although I had imagined Lucian and his fellows would have met a more permanent end than they had.” A frown creased the taut skin around his eyes.
Somewhere nearby, the trickle of a stream burbled, but my attention was wholly on Drake when the pieces started fitting together.
“You were going to sacrifice yourself for me, weren’t you?” I’d already suspected it, knowing he’d only gotten in trouble with vampire law because of saving me from another undead. All because I’d agreed to hear him out.
Instead of confirming or denying it, Drake smiled. “I am sorry for pulling you down with me—attaching my problems to yours.” Even marred by direct sunshine, his striking, ghoulish features and soft accent lit up my heart like tinder took to fire.
Vehement, I shook my head and ambled a step closer. “When I went to find you that night—at the park—it was to thank you for saving my life in that damn parking lot.”
Surprise cascaded across Drake’s expression as he subtly moved nearer, if only by inches.
He seemed about to say something, and then changed tracks when he opened his mouth.
“You could still notify your family to come for you, it is not too late. Otherwise, I could fund your fare home. Even if Ezra were tempted to scry for you, there are ways for a living person to ward against it. Winston could assist you with—”
“You need me there, right? That’s what Ezra was implying—a blood relative of Dracula is the key.
Well, here I am, his long-descended niece.
You won’t get that ring without me.” Saying it out loud only strengthened my belief, especially when Drake seemed at a loss to argue against it.
Except, that wasn’t the whole reason for why I was going along with it.
“Also… If I did call my family to come get me, it would put you and Winston at risk. I couldn’t—I don’t want that.”
My face heated as I glanced up to meet Drake’s gaze. He blinked, only once, but it was like something shifted inside of him that extended to the air between us. The space faded as he leaned in, carefully angling closer until we were only inches apart.
“I do not deserve you,” he whispered, so matter-of-fact, but his mind melting accent encouraged my eyes to close while I breathed him in.
Death and blood lingered on him, somewhere deep in his veins that went beyond washing off what had been stained to his skin.
Somehow, it didn’t smell so unpleasant anymore.
Heart racing, my thoughts a mess, I slowly opened my eyes and said, “Well, I’m all the backup you’ve got.
Hope you don’t mind.” It was the last thing I wanted to say.
Why was it so hard to express what kept pulsating under my skin?
Like revealing too much would break all the trust I’d built up, even if I’d already run out of excuses for why I shouldn’t embrace how I felt.
His chuckle sounded genuine, but the resignation behind his eyes seemed too sad to reflect his lingering smile. The same sentiment I’d glimpsed when I found him in the park. Almost like he had his own doubts. Just beneath the surface, and hidden by his calm exterior.
Leaning away, he started for the door and said, “Yours are the only reinforcements I shall ever need, love.”
Flutters ricocheted through my chest as I followed a few steps behind him, and then my brow furrowed. When, exactly, had he started calling me that?