The Corollaria (6 page)

It was almost enough to erase the memory of Elaine. Of her innocent blue eyes before they
’d learned to hate him.
Almost.

The heavy wooden door behind him creaked.

“Allison,” he said, almost cheerily.

The girl entered and her face
twisted in disgust.  Not for the blood. She could feel its power, and she herself grew hungry from the fresh scent of it lingering in the air. But for Emily. She hated her.

“Samuel,”
Allison answered softly.  “What is the plan?”

She felt nervous about her earlier blunder when she’d first broken into the Lyall’s house, waiting patiently for Emily and Luke to return home. But she had redeemed herself.  After they had fallen asleep, she had snuck back in and managed to kidnap Emily easily enough.

Samuel turned to face her, slowly, methodically, tapping a finger to his chin.

“We wait.  The wolves will come for her or Queen Aine wi
ll send her precious Hunters,” he sneered. His thin lips turned into a wicked grin.  “And then, my dear, we shall have our war.”

He placed a hand on
Allison’s shoulder and squeezed gently, almost paternally, before striding past her to the door.  Allison’s gaze flickered to Emily’s unconscious body on the bed.  Her eyes narrowed and she bared her teeth as her mouth filled with saliva.

“
Allison,” Samuel warned.  His tone was hard, not to be argued with. “Come along.”

She stole once more glance a
t the girl, her nostrils flared and her muscles tensed before she left the room.

~000~

The room was completely dark and silent when Emily came to. She felt dizzy and the ache inside her had only grown while she’d slept. She found herself again on the large four-poster bed, this time beneath the heavy red and gold duvet.  Emily swallowed. Dry and scratchy, her throat burned. She tried to sit up, managing to at least prop herself up on her elbow.

A shadowy figure’s movement next
to the bed caught her attention. She opened her mouth to scream.

“It’s just me,” the deep familiar voice said, flicking on the soft yellow light of a small bedside lamp.  Emily squinted, adjusting her vision to the sudden brightness.

“Curtis?” she whispered. She suddenly wasn’t sure how to feel. He had attacked her and she felt a flash a rage and anger, along with a panicked and barely veiled fear. But another part of her could only remembered his pained eyes when he’d ran off, and his whispered confession before he had bit her.

Curtis’s cropped black hair look disheveled, he pushed a few loose strands back as he sat down across from her. He wouldn’t meet her eyes, and the silent minutes seemed to stretch on and on.

“I’m so sorry, Em,” he finally said, raising his dark eyes to meet hers. Emily frowned, her brows knitted together and her eyes darkened to a deep midnight blue. Curtis swallowed nervously and took an unnecessary breath. His fingers twitched.

E
mily thought for a long minute as she studied him. Something wasn’t right. She couldn’t understand what was going on.

Finally, she sighed heavily and asked, “What’s going on? Why did you attack me?”

Curtis flinched. He hadn’t wanted to do that. He hadn’t wanted any of this. He reached out his hand, sliding it underneath hers and squeezed her fingers. Part of her wanted to pull her hand away, but something else stirred inside her and she resisted the urge.

“A few days ago, I was attacked in the park when I went to meet—at least I thought I was meeting—Sara,” he began.

Sara was his older sister. She had been in and out of rehab the last couple of years and sometimes Curtis, his dad and his younger sister Ramona would not know where she was for weeks at a time. But usually she would call Curtis and show up asking for money or a favor of some sort.

“A couple of days later, I woke up with this awful, gut wrenching pang and the man you met earlier, Samuel, was there. He told me what I had become, he—”

Curtis visibly shuddered, and Emily could see something like disgust flicker in his dark eyes. She suddenly felt bad for Curtis.  Was it her fault he’d been dragged into this? She laced her fingers with his and squeezed.

He swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbed, and
as he continued, his voice grew hoarse, “He made me feed, and he gave me instructions...
orders
.”

“Orders?” Emily echoed.  A
familiar cold sensation tickled her skin.

“I was told I had to find you, I had to bring you to him,” he said, his voice
even quieter now, strained.

“Why?” Emily asked. She felt like everything she had been told still wasn’t adding up.

Curtis tugged on Emily’s hand, pulling her closer to him. His free hand came up, brushing along her cheek as he tucked a stray blond curl behind her ear. He started to lean forward and Emily stiffened. She wasn’t sure why exactly, she’d kissed him before, but right now her thoughts were still on Luke.  If he noticed he didn’t show it except the tightening of skin around his eyes.

“All I know Em, is that it has to d
o with your blood,” he revealed. Emily scrunched up her nose.  He elaborated when he saw her expression, “its...
special
.”

“Special?
” she repeated, her voice rising.  This whole conversation seemed unreal. “What does that mean? How is it special?”

“I just know that when I drank it, it made me...stronger. Not just the way other human blood does, but...like, I feel this surge of something still. L
ike I’m invincible or something.”

Curtis’s
eyes got brighter as he spoke like he was talking about some powerful drug.

She shivered, and knew from the look in his eyes that he
was fighting against something:
the desire to feed on her blood.

Emily’s frown intensified and she tried to keep her voice from shaking as she spoke, “I thought, vampires, were invincible or immortal or whatever.”

He snorted, “Not exactly. We deteriorate very very slowly. Something about an ancient curse. Blood keeps us going. But your blood—”

Curtis sucked a sharp breath and dropped his eyes
. He slowly shook his head.

She was quiet for a moment.  Emily dropped
her eyes to their still joined hands and watched his fingers brush over her knuckles. She was trying to process all this information. Slowly the pieces began to click into place.

Emily
finally broke the silence, and raised her bright blue eyes to his, “So, Samuel wants me because of my blood, right?”

He nodded.

“Because my blood somehow makes vampires...stronger?” she asked, pursing her lips together.

“I think...I mean
it’s more than just stronger. All human blood, every time we feed we are stronger, but something about your blood makes us less... vulnerable to—”

“Deteri
orating,” she finished for him.

Curtis
furrowed his eyebrows and cocked his head to the side studying the almost electric blue her eyes had turned. Samuel’s answer to her question from the night before echoed in her thoughts,
Immortality.

Emily gasped suddenly as so
mething clicked. Her hand flew up to cover her mouth, “My blood makes you...immortal.”

Curtis’s eyes went wide for a moment and he sucked in a breath out of habit.

“But, then why is he keeping me here? Does he have to kill me? Drain me completely first?” Emily sat up on her knees facing Curtis. She could feel the fear humming in her veins, and knew she was at least close to the truth.

“Or,” Curtis began, his voice low and thoughtful, with a hard edge, “Maybe it doesn’t last.”

Emily’s eyes were as big as two shimmering pools. Her body trembled, her vision danced. Curtis wrapped his arms around her and drew her close.
Was Samuel planning on keeping her here, locked away as a prisoner, slowly drinking her blood?
Her stomach twisted and fresh tears form in her eyes.

“Shhh,” Curtis soothed. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”

Something was tugging at Emily’s memory. Luke exploding into a wolf. She couldn’t be sure, but that invisible connection she’d always felt pulling her to him, seemed so much stronger since last night, and she knew somehow that that was connected to all this too.
Her wolf.
That’s what Samuel had called him.

“Luke,” Emily mumbled against the soft fabric of his shirt. She pulled back just quick enough to see the strange mixture of annoyance and pain and agreement in Curtis eyes. She tried to ignore it.

“You have to find him. He can help.”

C
urtis watched Emily for a few minutes after she’d fallen back asleep. He gently brushed his knuckles over her cheekbone.  Leaning forward, he tenderly kissed her forehead. He lingered a moment, a jumble of emotions and instincts warred inside him.
Has it always been this complicated with her?

He sighed when he pulled back. Maybe it had. Curtis bent forward and rubbed his palms over his face, pushing his fingers against his closed eyelids. He felt tired in a way he never had before. Not so much that he needed sleep, but that his mind and emotions had been stretched so far
. He just needed to find a quiet minute alone to figure it all out.

Over the last few days he hadn’t been told much. Samuel had brought him to this same house and explained to him what he had become, and that he needed Curtis’s assistance.

“Emily?” Curtis croaked. His voice was hoarse and his throat dry from disuse. The older vampire’s thin lips curled up on one side.

“Ahh, so you have some affections for the girl,” Samuel drawled. Curtis frowned. There was something in the vampire’s tone that suggested he had already known that.

“I need you to bring her back to me,” Samuel instructed. His voice was pleasant enough but his dark eyes held no gentleness, just a hard fierce edge. Curtis was sure the vampire wasn’t accustomed to people saying no.

“Are you goin
g to hurt her?” Curtis asked.  His voice was shaky and his head swam with questions. What did he want with Emily? Why her?

Samuel leaned forward with
narrowed eyes and his lips pursed together in a thoughtful, albeit calculating, expression, “Tell me, Curtis Banan, how long have you been in love with Emily?”

Curtis sucked in a sharp breath,
startled by the man’s keen awareness. He’d never said that out loud to anyone. Not even Emily. He knew that Emily had feelings for Luke. She looked at him with those big blue eyes in a way that made Curtis ache for her to look at him. 

Samuel’s mouth curved and he stood up, walking over to the cherry wood mantel
. He picked up an intricate gold frame with a worn black and white photograph. There was a softness to his features, a wistfulness to his slight smile. He ran a long pale finger over the image of a young fair-haired woman.

There was a long beat of silence and Samuel seemed to be transported momentarily to another time. Eventually, he cleared his throat and spoke in a low voice, “I can help you Curtis. If you help me, you could be with her. Forever.”

He turned away from Curtis completely and muttered under his breath, “Instead of letting the dog have her.”

Emily shifted in her sleep, mumbling softly.  Curtis’s eyes flicked to her. His self-control was waning. The sweet smell of her blood filled his nostrils, causing his mouth to pool with saliva and the dry scratchy burn in his throat to flame, signaling his thirst.

Curtis rose to his feet and crossed the dark room, pausing with his hand on the door knob. He turned back to look at Emily one more time.  It was starting to become all too clear that she was never his. He took another unnecessary breath and silently slipped from her room.  

The long hall was dark and quiet as he walked slowly down it. There were no wi
ndows in this part of the house. Just a few flickering candles along the wall lit the way. He twisted the golden door handle to the room he was given.  He already knew that Samuel would be waiting for him on the other side.

He pushed the door in and entered,
his blood instantly recognized the presence of his maker. The feeling was not a pleasant one. His skin crawled with the sensation. Something deep inside him was revolted by the knowledge of what he had become.

“Curtis,” Samuel addressed him as he
entered the dimly lit room. A tall flickering candle sat on the edge of a small dark cherry wood table casting shadows on the wall. The older vampire motioned for Curtis to take a seat in the dark blue upholstered chair next to his.

Samuel’s hands were folded together and rested under his pointy chin.
A signature gesture Curtis had come to recognize in the older vampire. Samuel’s eyes were dark and expressionless, his posture was somewhat relaxed. He leaned back into the chair and crossed his legs. Curtis sank down into the old fashioned chair. He bent forward and propped his elbows on his knees.