Part 7 (2/2)
He thought hard, never having considered the question that way before. ”Perhaps fifty. In the early days there weren't nearly as many there as there were more recently. Now there are far more in training.”
”In captivity, you mean.”
Nodding, he held out a hand. ”I know I should have told you all of it from the beginning, Lilith, but I just didn't know if I could trust you or not. I thought you might have been sent to kill me.”
Sighing, she took his hand, and he pulled her closer. She never took her eyes from his as she came to him and said, ”I can see that's not the only reason you lied to me. There's more.”
”Yes.”
”Will you tell me?”
They walked along the edge of the stream, with him still holding her hand. It was small inside his, but strong.
”What were we, before they 'turned' us? I mean, did we have any special powers or abilities?”
”We were just humans, but special ones. The keepers tell us that they take children like us to live at The Farm for our own protection.”
”Protection?” She tipped her head sideways, staring up at him with her green eyes wide and curious.
”From what?” ”From other vampires. The wildborns. Vampires who make each other. But the keepers say if they find one of the Chosenthat's us, before we're made overthey'll kill us on sight. And that if they knew the Bloodliners existed, they would kill us even more eagerlyeven those of us who are already Undeadbecause we're so different from them.”
She blinked and stopped walking, sinking instead to the gra.s.sy ground beneath her. ”If only the Chosen can become vampires, and if the Wildborns still make new vampires, then they must not kill all the Chosen.”
He smiled, because he remembered her making that exact same argument in cla.s.sduring their indoctrination. ”I agree. It makes no sense. There must be some system they use to decide who to kill and who to bring over to the dark side.”
”So you don't really know if they kill any of them.”
He lowered his head. ”They're savage, the Wildborns. It's their nature. They're hunters, predators. They feed off innocent humans, kill people. They have no rules, no inhibitions, no restraint. While we Bloodliners are civilized, educated, more evolved. They would see us as a threat to them and hunt us down if they knew about us.”
Studying him, she waited a long moment and then said, ”And who told you all that?”
”Everybody knows these things.”
”Do they? And who told them?”
Shaking his head slowly, he said, ”You have a point. It could all be lies, but it's not something I'm willing to risk my life to find out for sure.”
”So you knew me there? At The Farm?”
”We never spoke. But I knew you.”
”How?”
He smiled a little. ”Everyone knew who you were. , You were the rebel. You argued, refused to obey, disagreed with every lesson you were taught, questioned authority at every juncture. You couldn't be tamed.”
”Like the other Lilith. My namesake.” She frowned, studying his face and knowing something she hadn't before. ”You bought the print in memory of me.”
He admitted it with a nod, averting his eyes. ”I admired you. I never forgot you, Lilith.”
She nodded and whispered, ”You kissed me once.”
”Yes. The night I had to go.”
”And yet you still ran away and left me there. A prisoner. Along with how many others, Ethan?”
”A hundred and fifty. Maybe two hundred.” ”What did you think was going to happen to me there? The rebel who couldn't be broken?”
Meeting her eyes, holding them steady, he said, ”I had to leave you. I was due to be turned. Callista said”
”I remember her,” she said softly.
”She helped me. She was the one who told me what they were planning. Lilith, my final exam was to murder you. And if I refused, they would have killed you anyway. My leaving was the only way to keep you alive.”
She tipped her head to one side. ”Taking me with you would have accomplished the same thing.”
”I had no time, no resources. I had to leave right then or not at all. I honestly thought it was for the best.”
She blinked three times. ”You could have come back for me.” She got to her feet, walked toward the horse. ”I'll see to it that she”
”Scylla. Her name is Scylla. And the stallion is Charybdis.”
”I'll see to it that Scylla is returned to you when I get to where I'm going.”
”No, Lilith. You don't need to run away from me. I've told you the truth. There's more you need to know, to learn”
”From you?” She shook her head. ”No, I don't think there's anything I can learn from you, Ethan.”
She walked to Scylla, stroked her. ”I'll take good care of her, and I'll send word where you can pick her up.”
”d.a.m.n it, Lilith, just where the h.e.l.l do you think you're going? There are Wildborns out there who'll rip you to shreds like a wolf would a lamb if they find you. There are the Bloodliner a.s.sa.s.sins, trained vampires so loyal to the DPI that they'd kill us as soon as look at us. That woman, she said they would find you soon, though she wouldn't tell me how. And besides all that, there are mortals who don't even know we exist but would try to exterminate us if they ever found out. Just where in the h.e.l.l do you think you can go where you'll be safe from all of that?”
”If you were so concerned about my safety, you'd have come back for me. You'd have found a way.”
”I intended to, Lilith. I did. As soon as”
”We've wasted enough time talking,” she said, the words landing like a slap to his face. ”That woman had a photo of me and she knew my name. She'll be back. She'll bring others.”
”I told her I'd never seen you. I willed her to believe me.” She frowned, and he went on. ”It's one of our powers. She won't come back, I promise.”
”Doesn't matter. I'm not going to run like you did.” She leapt easily onto Scylla's back.
”Well, do you mind telling me just where you're going?” ”It should be obvious. I'm going back.”
”Back?”
”To The Farm.”
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