Chapter 20: Chapter 19

We didn’t go far. We went down one set of steps and past four doors before Kates opened the fifth. After she shut the door and I glanced around, I realized that this was her room. There was a giant bed that had a canopy, just like the one in the other room. There was a sensual feeling to the room until I caught sight of the opened closet door. I saw the hooker boots, leather halter tops, and frayed jeans.

That was all Kates.

“This is where you stay?” I asked, hurt.

Sorrow flashed in her eyes, but she nodded before she perched on another velour throne chair. She only had two. It looked like they kept the good stuff for the hostages.

“So… let’s start this by you telling me why you ~really~ came to Benshire.” I deadlocked my eyes with hers. This was the showdown. Truth time.

Kates swallowed once. “I came here because I fell in love with someone.”

“Someone or something?” I couldn’t keep the disdain away.

Anger flashed briefly in her eyes, but she pushed past it. “I fell in love with a vampire. Your contempt’s not new so could you stop with the attitude? It’s not helping.”

“It’s helping me.”

“You want some answers and I’m trying to tell you them. I won’t be so inclined if you piss me off.”

“Listen to you. ‘So inclined’—who’ve you been talking to? You don’t talk like that on a good day, Kates. Drop the act. I want my friend here, not whoever you are when you’re with this ~thing~ you love.”

“Thing?”

Had we just not gone over this? Contempt. Me. For vampires. Not a surprise. I raised my chin and glared.

“What is your problem? You’re acting like I’ve lied to you!” Kates shouted.

“You have!” I shouted right back. “You just kidnapped me.”

“You weren’t supposed to be there!”

“Well, I was. And my roommate is in that room. And Adam—it had to be Adam?”

Kates snorted again, but laughed hollowly. “Don’t come crying to me because you have crap taste in guys.”

My eyes went red. “Excuse me?”

“You didn’t like Craig, but he sure liked you. Maybe it’s something about you that attracts these losers?”

“Losers? Me? Are we really not considering your vampire? He’s a creature of the night, Kates. I don’t think Adam is worse than that.”

“Creature of the night? So am I, Davy!”

“You’re a human.” Unlike myself.

“So are you.”

“This isn’t about me.”

“This ~is~ about you! I’m sorry that you’re mad that Adam cheated on you. You could do better. He looks like a pussy.”

She’d been the one to interrupt Adam and Shelly while I’d been pressing Roane against the wall around the corner… was it hot in here or was it me? I fingered my shirt’s collar and pulled it away to fan myself, but to no avail—I was burning up. I hoped my Immortal stuff wasn’t acting up.

“You’re going to be fine anyway.”

“What do you mean?”

“Look,” Kates continued. “I came to Benshire because of the Immortal.”

“The fairytale Santa Claus for vampires?” Her words exactly.

Kates grimaced and I caught a flash of embarrassment. “That girl that killed herself, she was the Immortal.”

Tell me about it.

“I was sent here to find the new Immortal.”

At her look of expectation, my eyes widened and I sat up straight. I was supposed to be confused. I was supposed to be shocked. I was supposed to be… I didn’t care. “Like I’m going to believe anything you say right now anyway.”

“Oh my god, Davy!”

“You kidnapped me!”

“I did not!” Kates surged to her feet.

“Evidence. I’m in a vampire castle! Against my will!”

“By chance! By chance. It was an accident. You’re not supposed to be here. You’re not supposed to be a part of this at all.”

I wasn’t supposed to be a part of this? She had no idea. “I’m still here, aren’t I?”

“Could you be more dramatic? I’m here. I’m going to protect you. Obviously.”

“Right,” I scoffed and crossed my arms. “Because you’re a slayer?”

“Because I’m your best friend,” Kates pointed out. “Idiot.”

“How’d you even know where we were?”

She grimaced. “Bennett knew. He followed Adam to your dorm and overheard him talking to Emily.”

Oh holy hell.

She added, “For what it’s worth, I think Bennett actually has a thing for her.”

“What else should I know about, Kates? You were supposed to be at Blue’s this whole time. Did you even go? What happened with that?”

Her eyes widened and I held my breath. This was not good.

“I went,” Kates murmured quietly, reluctantly. “But you told me that she’d gone inside and did her empathic thing. I couldn’t have that, Davy.”

“~I~ did it,” I wrung out, hoarse.

“You’re my best friend. That’s different… and I know you, Davy. You don’t really—you’re not really detail-oriented, you know. You only go so far. I haven’t been worried about you, but Blue—she—she knew things that she shouldn’t have.”

“What did you do to her?” My hands started to tremble. I felt my voice quiver and I felt something become unglued inside of me… it was starting to rise, starting to choke…. I stopped breathing. “Is she alive?”

“Barely.” She whispered the word and refused to meet my eyes.

Blue was family. “What did you do?”

Roane said not to get upset—too late for that. I was upset. I was more than upset. Kates said nothing and I jerked forward a step. “What did you do, Kates?!”

I felt her guilt before I heard it. I closed my eyes and whirled away as I saw what she’d done. She’d hit her. I flinched as I heard the punch. I felt the fist crunch against Blue’s jaw. My sponsor hadn’t stood a chance. “She respected your privacy. She wouldn’t tell me what she’d felt. She was worried about you and she wanted you to get help. She wanted to be the person to help you. I trusted you to go to her! What did you do, Kates?!”

“You know!” Kates screamed back.

I felt the slap of her words. I doubled over and gasped for breath. Tears came to my eyes and I rapidly blinked them away. “You don’t know what you’ve done.”

Kates looked like she’d just been slapped by my words.

“Where is she?”

“She’s in the hospital. Coma.”

“You’re a first class bitch.”

~‘I am.’~

I heard Kates’ thought.

~‘I deserve so much worse. I should be the one in the coma. I should be—no, Lucan needs me. He said that I’d have to do things I wouldn’t want to. He always knows. He said this would happen and Davy would react like this. He knows.’~

“Who the hell is Lucan?”

Kates jerked her head up and her eyes widened. “You can—no, you can’t!”

I stalked forward, one step at a time.

She backed away. “You can’t, there’s no way. You never could before…”

“I’m gifted, remember?”

“This isn’t… you’re not ~that~ gifted, Davy.”

I pierced her eyes. I wanted her to feel me deep inside, so deep that she’d never feel privacy again. “Maybe I’ve never been this furious before. Maybe I never had a reason to do what I can do now. She was like a mother, Kates. She was like my mother!”

She wanted to deny what I said. She wanted to not believe me, but it didn’t matter. “Are you going to tell me who Lucan is? Or am I going to go inside of you and figure it out myself?”

She blanched at my meaning. A cruel smile curved at the corners of my mouth. I wanted to see her squirm some more.

“I’m Lucan.” I heard the answer, but it came from the doorway.

I swung my gaze and stopped short. He was Roane’s complete double. He had the same coal eyes that held too many promises. Some of those promises sent shivers down my back. It was the same angular cheekbones, strong jaw line, and full plump lips that begged to be touched. He even had the same cocky, yet saddened, shrug to his muscular shoulders. They were strong shoulders. Both of them stood the same. Confident. Leaders. Sure that their way was the right way.

Except, there were differences too. Roane kept his hair buzzed short. Lucan wore his black hair sleek and straight to where it touched the tips of his shoulders. I watched as he lifted a graceful hand and tucked it behind one ear and knew that was his habit.

Kates watched in yearning and her hand jerked. She wanted to be the one to tuck that strand of hair behind his ear.

“She loves you.”

Kates jerked her gaze to me and instantly looked away, but I already saw it. I saw everything.

I breathed out, “You weren’t thinking of Roane before. You were thinking of him. Blue got it wrong somehow. Then in the car, you and Roane, you two looked like you wanted to murder each other. It was because of…” I swung my gaze to Lucan. “Who are you?”

He smiled, almost tenderly, but I still saw the killer in him. “Lucas is my twin brother—my ~human~ twin brother.”

‘~Raitscliff and Lucan have both found a girl… their families are here~’

Lucan strolled forward. “We’re both vampires, yes. We were sired from different families.”

“What do you want from me?” I wasn’t sure how to react. In fact, I wasn’t sure how to even breathe around this Roane look-alike. Lucan smiled again and I saw another difference. They lived by different codes. Roane defied death. He stood in the way of death and Lucan, he merely thought death couldn’t touch him. I wasn’t sure which one was the safest for company, but I’d soon find out.

“You’re Kates’ best friend. You got mixed up in this by accident. She says that you know Lucas, so I have a mission for you.” He really didn’t think I’d decline the proposal, little did he know about who I was.

I tilted my chin up. “What do you want?”

He turned and held Kates’ gaze for a moment, but neither of them needed to communicate their thoughts. I read the look and knew it was a lovers’ connection.

“Lucas has the Immortal at his home. I want you to go there and give her a message. I want you to tell her that we have her boyfriend. If she doesn’t want him to die, she needs to come to us by tomorrow night.”

“And if she doesn’t?”

“We’ll have a meal. That’s all.”

Kate jerked in reaction.

I stepped forward. “And what makes you think that ‘Lucas’ will let me talk to her?”

Then he smiled one of those intimate I-know-your-secret smiles. “Because I know that this Adam character isn’t your boyfriend.”

“How do you know that?” I already knew. I ~so~ already knew. Though, I needed to hear it.

“Because I smell my twin brother all over you. You’ll have no problem getting in to see the Immortal and we both know it.”

Well… hell.