—Mouth, The Goonies, 1985
Oh, dat girl of mine. She crazy in da head and gonna git herself kilt if she don’t look out. I’m worried about dat Eli, too. I think he might be too far gone for even me to help him, that’s right. He done slipped way into dat mess of bloodlust. My baby girl might have to make a choice she ain’t gonna like too much. If she does, well, den, we will have to go and get her. No tellin’ what she’ll do.
—Preacher
The second we walk into the Crachan, I can tell Noah is still asleep.
I don’t know what it is, or how I can sense it. It’s just one of those qualities I’ve acquired that have no rhyme or reason in my human brain. Which is really a joke, considering. As if anything in my world makes sense.
“I’m going to wake him,” I tell Rhine. “Be right down.”
“Aye,” Rhine answers, and disappears through the hall.
I hit the stairs and take them two at a time. One plus for long legs, I guess. I take the corridor at a jog and ease into Noah’s room.
I’m not prepared for what—or who—I see sitting in the chair against the wall, opposite Noah’s bed.
My little baby brother.
“Seth!” I choke out. I hurry to him, and at the same time he rises and launches at me, full weight. I catch him, and we embrace.
I’m shocked we’re no longer eye to eye. Rather, I have to look up at him. And I’m wearing spike-heeled boots.
“Ri!” he says into my neck. “I’ve missed you!”
For a moment, I forget all the craziness that’s become my world, forget vampires, blood, silver blades, and saving humans. I just inhale the familiar scent and feel of my little brother. I squeeze him tightly, and it takes me back to . . . before. That in-between time when I ran Inksomnia with my best friend, Nyx, and I tattooed for a living, and ordered Chinese food and had low-country boils with my Gullah family. I let it engulf me, for just a minute.
Then I pull back and scowl up at my brother.
My eyes widen. “Holy crap, Seth.” I finger his chin. “You’ve got freaking whiskers!”
Seth Poe grins, and the fact that he’s now almost seventeen blows me away. His dark hair is close-cut, like Eli’s brother Phin. Nicely arched dark eyebrows frame green eyes, just like mine, with long lashes most girls envy. But there’s a hardness about him now that wasn’t there before. In a way, I’m glad. He’s strong, and he’s grown.
And in another way, it saddens me. Innocence gone.
“I’ve been growing whiskers for a year now,” Seth says.
“Four single whiskers do not count, bro,” I remind him, and he grins. “What are you doing here anyway?” I stare at my brother, amazed at his physique. Although his are not nearly as severe as mine, he, too has tendencies. Strigoi tendencies. It’s what started all of this hell. Seth, on a dare by his pain-in-the-ass buddies, accidentally set free the entombed and deadly Arcos brothers. Seth was then drawn into Valerian’s Lost Boys’ cult in Savannah, and . . . Jesus Christ, I almost lost him.
Thanks to Eli and his family, he was saved.
And we realized Victorian Arcos wasn’t nearly as lethal as his brother, Valerian.
It’s been quite a hellish ride ever since.
“Your inspection of me, Ri, is kinda creepin’ me out,” Seth says with a grin. “Anyway . . .” He takes both my shoulders in his hands. “I kept having this bad feeling about you here,” he admits. “Preacher did, too. So he and Eli’s dad sent me.”
Eli. God Almighty, just hearing his name hurts. And saying what I have to say will hurt even more. “I have to tell you something.”
“Whoa, why are there so many Poes in my room?” Noah says, awakened. He’s sitting up now, still in bed. Dreads all over the place. He leaps from beneath the covers and, thank God, he’s wearing a pair of black workout pants. He’s barefoot, and in two steps he and Seth meet in the middle of the room. Noah pulls my brother into a fierce bear hug.
“What in Sam Hill are you doing here, boy?” Noah asks Seth. Noah’s Charleston drawl is appealing, and a little sensual. Especially when he’s serious. It gets, I don’t know . . . stronger. Almost like the old Noah, prevampirism, Revolutionary War Noah, is there, in his voice. Appealing.
Seth shrugs. “I got a bad feeling.” He looks at me. “About her.”
“She tends to stir that feeling in almost everyone she meets,” Noah says. He’s looking at me hard now, and I can tell he knows something’s up.
“How did you know to come here?” I finally ask.
Seth looks at me. “Jake Andorra told me you were in Inverness. Once I got here . . .” He shrugs. “I first went to the guesthouse you were supposed to be staying in. When you weren’t there, I just walked around until I . . . sensed you. I guess we look enough alike that the guys who were here let me in.” His eyes are questioning now. “What is it you have to tell me?”
“It’s Eli,” I say, and my throat constricts. I’m keeping focused, not dwelling on the fact that the very soul I love with all my might is the same one who’s turned dark, killing innocents, and doing so has made it almost seem surreal. To explain it? Say it out loud?
Pain. Deep, throbbing pain that starts in my gut and twists up my spine, to my throat and grabs on so fiercely I find it hard to even breathe normally.
But I do.
“What about Eli?” Seth asks.
“He’s turned, Seth,” Noah answers for me. “For the very worst.”
I look at Noah first, and I know he sees the appreciation in my eyes. Seth sits down in the chair he’d been in when I first walked in, and I finish telling him everything about Inverness. About how I’d gone into the alternative realm, dragged both Victorian and Eli out, and saved them. How Victorian had ended up back in Romania. And how Eli had grown fond of human blood, and Carrine. The killings. The Ness boys, and Rhine. Everything. My little brother sits in stunned silence the whole time I speak.
Then I have to tell both Noah and Seth the latest.
About Valerian Arcos.
Now I have two pair of stormy eyes staring at me. One green. The other pure liquid silver.
Both mad as hell.
Noah speaks first. “What the hell, Riley?” he says. “You knew it was him and you went anyway?”
I shoot a glance at Seth. He’s waiting on an answer, too.
“I took Rhine with me,” I answer.
“No, Rhine insisted on going because I made him swear he would watch out for you while I slept,” Noah corrected.
“Nah, that’s no’ exactly right, either,” Rhine says from the doorway. “I’d have gone, no matter what.” He eyes Seth for a moment.
“Rhine MacLeod, my little brother, Seth Poe,” I introduce. Rhine walks over and shakes Seth’s hand.
The two look each other over, and Seth nods. “You’ve got tendencies.”
Rhine nods in return. “Some.” He glances at Noah. “She kissed me.”
Noah’s brow lifts. “Is that so?”
I shake my head, glare at Rhine, and sigh. “Clarification. I had to make Valerian think he had one over on me so he would leave. He instructed me to do it.” I slide a sideways glance at Rhine. “So I did.”
“And what did he want?” Seth asks. “Does his father know he’s here?”
I nod. “I slipped Victorian the message, but Valerian doesn’t know that. Anyway, when I threatened to tell his dad, he didn’t seem overly concerned. He basically told me that Eli was far gone—too far for help. And that I needed to kill him before he killed me.”
“Did he mention the female?” Noah asks.
Again, I nod. “Said she’s just some female latched on to Eli. But I think he knows a lot more than what he’s letting on. Carrine told me at Eastgate that her savior had freed her of her prison. That she was basically under his command. Could be Valerian.”
“But we know she’s a witchpire,” Rhine adds. He looks at Seth. “Witch. Vampire. Old as bloody hell.”
“I think Valerian wanted his presence known,” I say. “He claims he’s killed only one innocent here in Inverness.” I look at Seth. “So far there’ve been five. And that’s not including the newbloods.”
“So what are you doing?” Seth asks. “To keep the city safe?”
I glance at Rhine and Noah, then at my brother. “Same thing we were doing in Savannah. Run the streets.”
“Only the lot of us, we’re human,” Rhine says. “I’m the only one wi’ any tendencies, and they’re mild compared to your sister’s abilities.”
Noah’s pacing now, and pulling on a white T-shirt over his head. “I don’t like it.” He ties his dreads back with a leather band. “There’s more to Arcos’s appearance than to simply tell you how much he doesn’t want you to die. He’s full of shit. He knows something.”
“Och, that’s no’ all he said,” Rhine offers. “He fancies Riley here.” He looks at me. “A lot.”
Noah makes a sound, almost a swear, in his throat. “I can only imagine. Still,” he says, “there’s something else going on.”
“He left,” I tell him. “I can sense his absence. He’s gone from Inverness.”
“Well, unfortunately, Eli is still here,” Noah says. “And Carrine. And they have to be stopped.”
“Why don’t we just capture Eli and bind him?” Seth asks. “Take him back to Savannah so Preacher can take him to Da Island for detox.” He looks at me. “Like we did with Ri?”
“What if it’s not Eli?” I offer. I walk to the window and pull the drapes. The city is ablaze with streetlights. The castle is illuminated on the hill. “What if the killings continue, even without Eli as a factor?”
“We’ll kill Carrine, too,” Noah offers. “I’ll make a call to Andorra.”