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Chapter Seventeen

 

  At sunset Ethan awoke all at once, a feeling of urgency snapping his senses to full awareness. He sat up fast, then blinked away the remnants of the sleep-haze, and looked around the falling down shack where he and his brother had taken shelter.

  James lay a few feet away from him, stirring slowly to life, stretching his arms as he sat up. Ethan got to his feet, paced from the sheltered area where they'd slept to the nearest gap in the broken boards and stared outside. "You ready?"

  "I've barely opened my eyes, Ethan. " But James got up and came to join him. Already Ethan was climbing through the opening to the outside, then standing and scanning the night.

  "Anyone around?" his brother asked.

  "I don't feel anyone. Including Lilith. "

  James clapped a hand to his back. "We'll find her. Let's get back to that burned out mansion, see if we can find some clue as to who those women are, what they're up to, why they've taken her. And where. "

  Ethan nodded, but he felt a grim foreboding that didn't leave much room for hope. "I can't understand why she hasn't contacted me. "

  "Maybe her captors are preventing it. And even if she does, Ethan, you'll need to exercise extreme skepticism about anything says. They might be coercing her into misleading you. "

  "Nobody coerces Lilith into doing anything, brother," Ethan said, as they made their way through the woods to the road. The mansion wasn't far. They'd deliberately remained close.

  "Anyone can be turnedor forcedunder the right circumstances. Even your feisty Lilith. "

  "You wouldn't be so sure of that if you knew her. " Ethan spotted the sodden wreckage of the mansion.

  There were no mortals near, but the sense of those who had been here earlier permeated the place. Not just the womenbut the firefighters and others who'd rushed to the scene. Tire tracks marred the once perfect lawn, and ashes coated the grass. The stench of burned wood still filled the air. Yellow tape surrounded the area, woven through the bars of the wrought iron fence that guarded the place. The house had collapsed into a pile of blackened wreckage. It didn't look as if much had survived.

  "The women must have left through the rear or we'd have seen them," James said, then headed across the narrow road. The two of them jumped the fence and headed around the mansion's remains. Beyond it, there were shrubs and flowering trees, rose bushes, lilacs, plants of every imaginable sort, all interwoven with footpaths. Those plants nearest the house were destroyed, their leaves blackened or burned entirely away.

  Others were only wilted, but Ethan doubted they would survive what must have been a blast of extreme heat.

  Ethan hurried into the garden, feeling with his mind for any sense of Lilith. There was one, but it was faint, and already fading. "She's been here," he said. "This way. " Choosing the path where his sense of her felt strongest, Ethan followed it, pausing at every fork to feel for her and then moving on.

  The trail came to an abrupt halt at a giant sculpture of a goddess. The thing was as tall as two of him and must have weighed tons. He touched it, circled all the way around it, but couldn't pick up any trace of Lilith's vibration anywhere. It was as if she'd walked up to the statue and vanished.

  "It's odd," he said softly. "It's as if she disappeared right here. "

  "That is odd. " James put his hands on the sculpture, feeling every bump and ripple in the stone as if in search of an answer.

  Ethan did the same, but he did it with his eyes and his senses, not his hands. He tried to see what Lilith had seen here, tried to feel whatever she'd felt before she'd vanished. His eyes were drawn to the sandaled foot of the giant goddess, and he saw a seam in the stone there. Tracing it around the base, he realized it was not some ordinary crack in the stone but a manmade cut. Part of the statue would move away from the restand there had to be some sort of lever to trigger it.

  He turned to Ethan, parted his lips to speak, but hesitated at the intense and furious expression on his brother's face, and the sudden sense of frustration wafting from his brother's mind. As soon as James felt his attention, the doors of his mind slammed closed. The angry expression faded and was replaced by an innocuous one.

  "What do you think, Ethan?" he asked.

  Ethan blinked and decided he wasn't as sure of his brother as he'd been trying to believe he was. He'd ignored the warning signs up to now, allowed his brother to explain them away. AH because he wanted so badly to believe in James. But maybejust in casehe should exercise caution this one time.

  "I think it doesn't much matter where she went from here," Ethan said softly. "I know perfectly well where she's heading. To The Farm. "

  "But she's being held captive by those women. "

  "Yes, that's true," Ethan said with a nod. "But if they're DPI, that's where they'll take her. And she'll probably let them, because that's where she wants to go. "

  "And what if they're not DPI?" James asked.

  And Ethan got the distinct impression just thenthough only briefly, so slight he couldn't even be sure it was realthat James already knew very well that those women were not associated with the Division of Paranormal Investigations.

  But he didn't press that the point. "If they're not DPI," he reasoned, "then she'll escape and go to The Farm anyway. "

  "And you really think she's capable of escaping from that many armed females?"

  Ethan nodded. "There's no question in my mind, James. She's an amazing woman. "

  James sighed deeply. "If that's the case, Ethan, then I'm afraid there's nothing more we can do for her. "

  "We can intercept her," Ethan said. Then he sank onto a nearby bench and lowered his head into his hands. "Maybe. I don't know. I can't think straight, I'm so damn hungry. "

  "We should get sustenance, then," James said. "There's a small clinic nearby. We can find blood there. "

  Ethan lifted his head, nodded, then closed his eyes. "I'm feeling really weak. I don't know what's wrong. "

  James studied him for a moment. "Do you want me to go for the blood, then? Bring it back to you here?"

  Ethan nodded. "Yes. That would be great. Would you?"

  Slowly James nodded, but his eyes were narrow and probing. "Of course I would, if that's what you want. I'd do anything for you. You're my brother. My only family. And I'm yours. "

  He held Ethan's eyes for a moment, until Ethan, racked with guilt, had to look away. "I'll wait right here,"

  he said, nearly choking on the blatant lie. If he was wrong, he hoped to God that James would forgive him for mistrusting him so completely. And he hoped he was wrong. He hoped it with everything in him.

  James looked at him hard for a moment longer, but then turned and took off at an easy pace. Ethan watched him go, waiting until he was certain his brother was out of earshot, even feeling for him before proceeding. Then he knelt and began examining the statue again, trying to find the trigger that would open the door hidden in the base. There had to be one.

  Within a few moments he located it, a bump of concrete in the shape of a flower bud. When he depressed it, the base of the statue slid back, revealing a set of stairs leading downward. He felt the touch of subterranean air, damp and cool, and with it, his sense of Lilith returned. She had gone down this hidden stairway. She had descended into the depths of the Earth Herself.

  Ethan glanced back once, then started down those stairs, searching along the way for a means to close the door behind him. He found it, a switch in the wall that no one had bothered to try to conceal, and when he flipped it, the statue's base slid closed, grinding and scraping all the way.

  He watched its progress until it had completely closed out the night, and then he moved on. And as he did, another thought occurred to him.

  What if his growing suspicions about his brother were correct? He'd been worrying about whether his brother would ever forgive him if those doubts were wrong, but what if they were right? Would Lilith ever forgive him for not believ
ing her from the start? Was it in fact his own fault that she was in the dire situation she faced right now?

  Closing his eyes briefly, he leaned against the wall, a wave of weakness sweeping through him. He hadn't been lying about being hungry and needing sustenance. That much had been utterly true. But it was the thought of losing Lilith's budding trust in him that had turned his bones to water just then. And it was the even more debilitating thoughtthat he might be responsible for her impending demisethat he found nearly paralyzing.

  "First things first, Ethan," he told himself aloud. "If she doesn't survive this, it won't much matter if she forgives you or not. And if it's your fault she's in this mess, then it's up to you to get her out of it. So buck up and get movingbefore it's too late. " He drew a breath and prayed in desperate silence that it wasn't too late already.

  As soon as night had fallen, I had awakened with a smile tugging at my lips and opened my eyes expecting, for one, brief, blissful moment, to find Ethan lying beside me, staring into my eyes with that look I'd glimpsed in his beforethat look of deep and intense caring. That look that had been a lie.

  As I sat up and the reality of that returned to me, I felt the most crushing sense of loss I had ever experienced. He had betrayed meand who knew to what extent? Had he only trusted his brother with information he'd promised me he wouldn't share? Or was it even worse than that? Was he truly conspiring with his brother against me? Had he been doing so the entire time?

  My mother soothed me, seeming to know, without a word from me, the emotions that were crashing within me like waves upon a rocky shore. She stroked my hair, and handed me a cup filled with warm blood, to nourish and sustain me. I had no idea where she'd gotten it, and I didn't ask.

  I thanked her, though, and she said the most peculiar thing to me. She said, "There's no need for thanks, Lilith. This is just what mothers do. They care for their daughters. They stand by them in times of trouble and need. They do anything within their power to help. And I have a lot of lost time to make up for with you. "

  I wondered, as I studied her beautiful face, if that were true. Was that really what mothers did? All of them? I'd never known a mother before and had no reference for comparison. But she hadn't lied to me so far, so I decided to believe her.

  Mothers must be the most exceptional beings in existence, I thought. And mine, in my mind, stood above them all. I was a vampire. And she loved me still.

  The leader, Ginger, opened the secret panel to one set of tunnels and called out to us to hurry, so we did. I was led through a snake's nest of tunnels, over a distance of what had to be several miles. I could see perfectly in the darkness, but I knew that the other women couldn't, yet they moved with confidence, without hesitation. I found myself admiring their sureness and lack of fear. My mother and I were in the midst of the group, moving single file and slightly stooped, due to the tunnel's low ceiling. She held my hand, walking directly ahead of me, as if she were strong and I were weak. As if she were the one who would protect me from harm, when I was, in fact, as strong as any ten of these womenmaybe more.

  And yet it felt somehow natural, so I let her lead.

  The tunnels were dug deep, supported by braces every few feet. I felt as if I were traversing the arteries of the earth as I smelled the rich scent of soil all around me. It was as close to a grave as I would ever come, I thought. And then I realized that I hoped that were true. I wondered, with a pang of sadness, if any of these doomed mortals, with their abbreviated life spans, felt a sense of their inevitable end here.

  And for the first time it occurred to me that my mother, a mortal, would grow old. Would die. How could they live with that certainty ever present in their minds?

  How could I? I had only just found my mother. The thought of losing her, even at some distant point in the future, was painful, far more painful than I would ever have expected.

  Eventually the ground began to slope upward, and we emerged through a wooden door that was completely hidden on the outside by moss and weeds. When it closed behind us, you couldn't even see it, so brilliant and natural was its disguise.

  I turned and looked from the women around me to the area where we now stood. It was an open field, bordering a glimmering lake. There were cabins in the distance, dotting the shoreline. Lights burned in some, while others remained dark and felt uninhabited.

  "Here were are," Ginger said.

  My mother, still clasping my hand, drew me forward. "This cabin is owned by the Sisterhood. It's for emergency use only, since we don't want to draw attention to it. And it really wasn't designed for thirteen of us, but I think we can make it work. "

  I looked at her steadily, holding back as she tried to pull me forward. She stopped and faced me again.

  "You know that I can't stay here. "

  A look of dread came into her eyes, and her face seemed to go a shade lighter. "Of course notnot permanentlybut stay just for now," she said, although I think she knew, even then, what my answer had to be.

  I shook my head sadly.

  "Just until we figure out what to do," she rushed on. "We can make a plan, and"

  I cupped her face between my palms. "I already know what I have to do. "

  "Please don't go there alone. " She blinked at the dampness that swam in her eyes but could not so easily hide the fear. "We'll get more help. We'll get reinforcements. We'll get"

  "You need to tell me where it is. How to get there. "

  She closed her eyes, bit her lip. "If I tell you, and you die in your attempt, how will I ever live with that, Lilith?"

  "And if I don't try and just leave all those prisoners to their fate, and some of them die, or even just one of them dies, how will I live with that?" I asked her, then . swallowed hard, because her tears spilled over, and the sight of them caused me pain. "What if this is was what I was born to do?" I asked her.

  "What if my entire purpose in being conceived, being born with the Antigen, being taken from you to be raised in that place, escaping alivewhat if all of it was to enable me to do this? To save them? What if this is my destiny? Would you deny me my destiny?"

  She blinked away her tears. "Does it really feel that way to you?"

  I could only nod.

  "I guess I can understand that. Though I joined this organization with only my own self-interest in mindmy desire to find youI came to realize that it was so much more. It was meant to be. This cause is one I was destined to serve. So how can I deny you the chance to serve your own?" She sniffled, and wiped at her eyes. "But be careful, promise?"

  "Extremely careful. I'll just look around the place at first, see if there are any weaknesses I can exploit. " I realized I was proposing to her the same plan that Ethan had earlier proposed to me. To take it slow, to be careful, to know all I could before risking myself. He'd been right about those things. Even if he had only said them to delay me.

  "If they catch you" my mother began, but she left the sentence unfinished. And I thought perhaps it was too horrible for her to contemplate what might happen to me if I were caught.

  I smiled to reassure her and took her face between my hands. "You haven't seen me run, have you?"

  She allowed a small smile in return. "There's nothing I can do to talk you out of this, is there?"

  "No. I'm sorry, I really am. I wish we'd had more time together. If all goes well, perhaps we will. " I took my palms from her cheeks and leaned close to press my lips to them instead, a gesture of love that was as spontaneous as it was sincere.

  She sighed, and nodded gently. "Come with me, then. We have maps inside, and the coordinates, as well. I'll write the directions down for you. It will be fasterwell, at least saferif you take one of the boats. "

  "Thank you. "

  While the other women headed into the cabin, and began lighting lamps and building a fire in the hearth, my mother led me around to the side that faced the nighttime lake. For a moment I let the natural beauty of this place tou
ch me and its peace soothe me. Then she left me there and went inside to get me the information she had promised.

  There were two long docks, with several small boats tied alongside them. One or two had small outboard motors, but most had only oars.

  As I stood there, listening to the gentle lapping of the water against the hulls, staring out at the way the stars were reflected on the surface of the lake, I thought again of Ethan. I felt again his arms around me.

  His mouth on mine. The delicious weight of his body on top of me, and the blissful pleasure of him inside me. And in spite of everything, I wanted him again. I ached for him. And I felt tears brimming in my eyes, but I blinked them away when I heard my mother re-emerge from the cabin. Her footsteps crossed the dock to where I stood, and I turned to face her, hoping she wouldn't see the pain and longing that seemed to be crushing my heart.

  "Take this one," she said, pointing at one of the boats. "It has a motor, in case you need it. But don't use it unless you have to. You'll want to row," she told me. "Otherwise, the noise will give you away. "

  "All right. "

  "You start it by flipping the switch, there, and then pulling hard on the cord. " She showed me what she meant, and told me how to steer the thing, as well. She told me how to speed up or slow down, and how to kill the motor when I no longer needed it. She checked to be sure it was filled with gasoline, and advised me to wear the life jacket that lay across the seat.

  And all the while I thought she was only delaying the inevitable moment when I would leave her. I understood. I felt the same.

  At last she handed me the folded scrap of paper on which she had scribbled directions, at the same time reciting them aloud, in case I should lose the note.

  I took it and dropped it into a pocket. Thanks to these women, I had rested and now wore practical clothing. Jeans, a tank top and a light hooded sweatshirt, currently unzipped. I had socks and running shoes. I had more than that, too. I had a small army of women who would grieve if something should happen to me. My mother most of all, of course, but I did not doubt that the other members of her odd secret order, would weep for me, as well.

  It was a foreign feeling.

  I wondered if Ethan would mourn me if I were killed. I wondered if he would regret taking his brother's side against me. Or whether he even knew that was what he had done by betraying our mission to James.

  James was evil. I had no doubt of that. No matter how much I'd thought on it, I couldn't see any other answer. Someone had told those DPI bastards that we were on our way. And no one else had known.

  "I love you, Lilith," my mother told me, then hugged me hard. I hugged her back almost fiercely.

  As we pulled apart, she pressed a key into my hand. I frowned at it. "For the locked case you'll find under the seat cushion in the boat. There are weapons inside. Tranq guns for vamps, regular ones for anyone else. Just in case. "

  "Thank you, Mother," I whispered, then found it difficult to speak any louder, due to the constriction of my throat. "I no matter what happens, I"

  "Don't say that. "

  "No matter what happens," I repeated, insistent now, "I'm so glad I got the chance to meet you, to know you a little. And to understand what an extraordinary thing is it so have a mother, to know her love. "

  "I'm glad, too," she said softly.

  I hugged her again, then pulled away and turned to climb into my boat. My mother leaned over to untie it from its moorings, then tossed the rope to me.

  I waved once, then took the oars and began to row. I watched my mother as I went. She remained right where she was, standing on the dock, a cloak wrapped around her shoulders. The night breeze lifted the edges and tossed her hair. And I drank in the sight of her for as long as I could, until a bend in the shoreline hid her from my sight.

  Then I lowered my head and let the tears flow.

  This caring for other people was new to me. Oh, I'd thought I understood it. I'd thought that my desire to save the others at The Farm was because I cared for themand I did. I had cared for them before I'd left. I remembered it clearly now. And I cared for them still.

  But that caring was nothing compared to what I felt for my newfound mother. And nothing compared to what I felt for Ethan.

  As I dipped the oars and rowed ever further from them, I feared I had lost them both. And the possibility that I might die in my efforts this night paled beside the thought that I might never see either one of them again.

  I wondered briefly if I'd been better off before I'd known what it was to love. For to lose that love was a pain beyond anything I could ever have felt had I never known it.

  And yet, despite the pain and the loss, I realized I wouldn't give up any of it. Not the touch of a mother's love, and certainly not the joy I'd found in Ethan's arms. No, I wouldn't give up any of it, not for all the world.

  Serena watched her daughter go and hoped to God it wasn't the last time she would ever see Lilith alive.

  She was so filled with love for her that it seemed to be nearly bursting from her heart. There was very little she could do to ensure her daughter's survival.

  But there was one thing.

  It would mean breaking her oath to the Sisterhood, the order to which she had pledged her very life. It might very well mean harsh punishment when they found out what she had done.

  When a woman joined the Sisterhood of Athena, she joined for life. No one left, and betrayers well, betrayers vanished. There was an unspoken understanding that for the greater good, no one must be allowed the chance to reveal the secrets of the order.

  She didn't know for sure that traitors were summarily, if humanely, put to death. But it was what she believed happened, in those extremely rare instances. And it was, at that moment, what she believed would happen to her.

  It didn't matter. She would gladly give her life to save her daughter's. There was no hesitation, no fear in her heart. "It's what mothers do," she whispered.

  Pulling the cell phone from a pocket, she checked the screen, relieved to see that there was a signal in this remote place. It was Ginger's phone, not her own. She'd switched the phones while Ginger slept.

  She'd learned long ago of a forbidden relationship Ginger had hung on to, despite orders from above to the contrary.

  She found the list of contact numbers and scrolled down until she found the one she wanted. The one belonging to the only person in the world who might be able to help save Lilith and the other captives being held at The Farm.

  She was one of only a handful of her kind who knew of the Sisterhood's existence. She and her friends had vowed to keep the order's secret, but the powers that be had forbidden any future contact, and though they hadn't said the words "on pain of death," that had been fully understood.

  And yet Serena pressed the button, and the telephone placed the taboo call. She felt a chill rush up her spine as she listened to the woman's phone ringing. Once, twice, three times.

  And finally, sounding extremely irritated, the woman herself answered the phone with a curt, "Who are you, and how did you get this number?"

  Swallowing hard, Serena forced herself to speak. "My name is Serena, and I know what's been happening to The Chosen. I know where, they are. The missing ones. My daughter is among them, trying to save them, though I fear it will cost her her life. I can't hope to help her, but you can. And I'm begging you to provide that help Rhiannon. "