Garden of Snakes

  Ian gives him a look, but doesn’t say anything as he turns and heads downstairs.

  When I get down the stairs, I look outside and realize that it is, in fact, morning. I’ve slept through all of yesterday afternoon and all night. And I maybe finally feel like I’m caught up.

  “Eat up,” Alivia says as she places a bowl of oatmeal with strawberries on top in front of me at the table. “We’ll get to the heavy stuff after you have something in your stomach.”

  Instantly my stomach does growl. I sit down and take a big scoop, just as Lexington opens the fridge and pulls out a blood bag. He extends one to Ian, as if he’s hoping it’ll stand as a peace offering.

  “Seriously, Ian, can you stop with the death glares?” he says when Ian doesn’t take it and continues to look very annoyed.

  “Look, I just can’t believe I trusted you here,” Ian says with a shrug. “I mean, that’s part of the reason I chose you, because I didn’t think you’d ever look at my sister like…like you did last night. And this morning.”

  “Look,” Lexington says, holding a hand up. “I’m not going anywhere. You’re going to have to deal with the fact that I love your sister, and I’m pretty sure she still loves me.”

  His eyes slide over to me, an adorable, hopeful little look in them. And I smile my first real smile in months. “It’s true, Ian. I do.”

  A swarm of butterflies breaks throughout my whole body when Lexington breaks out into a brilliant smile. It’s all I can do not to kiss him, hard, here in the kitchen, in front of everyone.

  “See?” Lexington says. “So, you just need to stop looking at her like a little girl. I’m telling you, I’m going to do everything I possibly can to take care of your sister. That’s a promise.”

  Ian just keeps looking at Lexington, and it’s obvious, he doesn’t want to believe him.

  “Come on, Ian,” Alivia says as she walks over to my brother. She wraps her arms around his waist and he loops an arm around her shoulders. “You know your sister. I’ve known her for almost seven years, and I’ve never seen her as happy as she is when she’s with Lexington. Just…be happy for her.”

  Ian’s eyes slide from his wife, up to Lexington, and then over to me.

  Slowly, I see something soften in his eyes.

  “Look, I’m sorry,” he says. “It’s just…after taking care of you for sixteen years… It’s hard to let go and admit you don’t need me anymore.”

  I shake my head. “I still need you, Ian. You’re still the only blood family I have left. I just need you to trust me to make my own decisions.”

  He offers a sad little smile. He crosses the kitchen and wraps his arms around me and places a kiss to the top of my head. “I get that,” he says quietly. “I’ll try harder from now on, okay?”

  I look up at him and nod with a smile.

  “And I’ll try to get used to this,” Ian says with a wave of his hand between Lexington and I. “But just know, if you break her heart, you’re finished.”

  “Ian,” Alivia scolds.

  “It’s okay,” Lexington says, holding up a hand. “Sounds fair.”

  My brother gives a little scoff sound and shakes his head as he walks out of the room.

  “He’ll get it eventually,” Alivia says with a smile. “Might take a decade or so, but he’ll get it.”

  She knows Ian so well.

  My breakfast finished, I head upstairs to get dressed. But I’m really going to have to go shopping soon. I go through three pairs of pants before I find some that fit without being uncomfortable. I dab on some makeup quickly, the first I’ve worn in months, and pull half of my hair up.

  Looking in the mirror, I almost look normal again. I look like the Elle of five months ago.

  Just be her, I tell myself. Just for the next hour. You can do that.

  I take a deep breath, raise my chin, and walk out.

  I pause in the hallway. From Lexington’s bedroom, I hear faint snoring. Michael is just as exhausted as I was.

  “Where’s Shada?” I ask when everyone looks up at me as I descend the stairs.

  “She’s still at the House of Martials,” Lexington says of my cat. “Julie has been taking care of her. I’ll tell her to drop her off tonight.”

  I nod, grateful my dismissive pet wasn’t lost while I was gone all this time.

  Everyone looks at me expectantly, and the pressure is growing. “I need fresh air,” I say. “I’ve been locked up for months. I’m home now, and I need my city.”

  Lexington smiles at me and opens the front door. I jot down a quick note for Michael, and one by one, we all file down the stairs and out the main door.

  I take a deep breath in when we get outside. The hustle and bustle, the noises of Boston, the scent of ocean and city. I really do love it all.

  I set off down the sidewalk that cuts through the park in the middle of Commonwealth Avenue, my feet taking over, having walked this trail hundreds of times.

  “How have things been at the House of Martials?” I ask as I step around a pack of tourists reading the plaque at the statue of Alexander Hamilton. “Has it grown at all since I left?”

  The tension that immediately fills the air makes me turn and look at the three vampires that walk just slightly behind me.

  “What?” I ask, instantly on alert.

  “Yeah, the House has grown,” Lexington begins. “Aleah has gotten three more Born to join.”

  “That’s good,” I say, studying his face for why everyone has gotten so serious.

  He nods. “It is, but they’re all lying low for right now.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” I ask, my brows furrowing.

  “You remember how I told you, last fall, that rumors were going around that Cyrus was finally fully enacting the Bitten eradication order?” Ian says as he walks by my side.

  “Oh no,” I breathe.

  Ian nods. “A Hunter showed up in Silent Bend about two months ago. Asked all kinds of questions. Made some of the House members take him all around our region, proving there weren’t any Bitten around. We never met any of them, but I know he had other soldiers in the area, too.”

  “You’d found some bodies before,” I say, feeling my heart sink. All those innocent people. Being killed because they can be used as mindless slaves who could get their kind exposed.

  Ian nods. “There were more.”

  “We can’t possibly keep tabs on every single Born,” Alivia says. “Too many are created by accident, the result of a random hookup. They die, resurrect. Have to figure out their new lives. And they create Bitten by accident. The only way to ensure no more Bitten are ever made is to track every one of the Born down. And that’s going to take a lot of manpower and time.”

  “Did this guy ever have any clue about what your father has done?” I whisper. I’ve learned over my entire life that there could be eyes and ears anywhere.

  Alivia shakes her head. “Henry has stayed away. I haven’t seen him in two and a half months. For now, he’s gone back into hiding. No one but us knows what he made.”

  We don’t dare say the words out loud, the admission that Alivia’s father, Henry Conrath, created the cure for the Bitten.

  “So, is this a worldwide hunt yet?” I ask, moving on. We cross the street and step into the Boston Public Garden.

  “Rumors of a guy asking weird questions started about four weeks ago,” Lexington pipes up. “Aleah was keeping things under control while Ian and I were in Vermont looking for you. She called me, letting me know she’d been following some guy who’d been trying to find Charles Allaway and had heard he was in Boston last anyone saw. When she finally approached him, he asked just that: if she knew where he could find Charles, if we knew of any Bitten in the area, or anyone who’d created any Bitten.”

  “You have your own Hunter in town,” Ian says darkly. “And he isn’t going to be going away any time soon.”

  My blood goes cold. “Where is Kai?”

  Lexington looks around, sea
rching for listening ears from the shadows. And I’m right back in, sucked into their politics and dangerous games. “He’s been in hiding with a few others he’s found. He’s trying to find and warn others, curing who he can as he goes.”

  “Where?” I ask, panic and fear creeping up my chest for my friend.

  Lexington shakes his head and shrugs as I make my way to a bench. “He’s constantly on the move. He checks in every now and then. But the less we make contact, the better.”

  “His poor family,” I breathe. “They’re probably so worried. I should have cured him a long time ago.”

  Lexington nods, though it’s clear he doesn’t quite know what to say about that. Kai’s past feelings for me got too complicated, and I had to cut ties for a while. During that time is when Lexington and I fell in love. Guilt sits heavy on my shoulders because I know I hurt Kai.

  But you can’t fight the truth of your heart.

  “Needless to say, there’s been a lot of dead Bitten cropping up around the New England area,” Lexington says as he leans back in his seat, looking out over the beautiful park, in full bloom, crowded with people. “This Hunter and his team aren’t wasting any time. I don’t know what’s going to happen from here on out. I’ve been gone for a long while now. Aleah’s been doing everything she can to keep everything from turning into chaos.”

  “If Cyrus has people here, that means he knows things have only gotten worse since he told Charles he wasn’t happy with him,” I say, leaning back and absentmindedly rubbing a hand over my stomach.

  Alivia nods. “Cyrus is going to want Charles found. This should be his problem, instead his only contacts are the House of Martials, and I think we all know how he’s going to feel about that.”

  “You might not have to worry about Charles after all,” Ian says. He crosses his arms over his chest and looks out over the busy park. “Cyrus might be pissed off enough to just end him now.”

  “Maybe,” I say, trying to not get hopeful. “There’s no way Charles is going to tell Cyrus right away that he has an heir on the way. Cyrus will kill him now if he knows the Allaway line has been continued.”

  “What do you think Charles will do now?” Ian asks, looking to Lexington.

  “I’m still super confused,” Lexington says, shaking his head. “You said he can’t get near you now, not until after the baby has been born?”

  I nod my head, not quite looking up at the lot of them.

  There’s a line here to be crossed. I don’t want to go over it, and I certainly don’t want to take any of them over it with me.

  “This involves a curse,” Alivia says quietly. “Doesn’t it?”

  I look up at her, and I’m too afraid to nod yes or no. But she sees it there in my eyes.

  “Charles is cursed against his own child until after it’s born,” Alivia clarifies. I see understanding in her eyes. She’s always been more perceptive and smarter than most.

  “How the hell did that happen?” Ian growls.

  “Doesn’t matter,” Alivia says, her eyes snapping up to her husband. “Elle is safe from Charles for now.”

  Lexington and Ian are quiet for a moment. I can feel the wheels turning in their heads a hundred miles an hour. There are so many devices, so many plots, so many options.

  “What matters is figuring out where we go from here,” Alivia takes charge when everyone else hesitates. “What does Charles do from here on out? We need to know how he’s thinking.”

  “He should be working his ass off the next seven months to redeem himself,” Ian says, snapping back into the moment. “He should be trying harder than ever to rebuild his House and get things back under control so Cyrus doesn’t want him dead.”

  Lexington and I shake our heads at the same time. “That’s what he should be doing,” Lexington says. “But he’s way too obsessive. He’s not going to get anything else accomplished while he’s still trying to figure out a way to get to Elle.”

  “He’s obsessed with revenge,” I continue. “He told me so, himself. He said he knew he could lead eventually, but until I was dead, he couldn’t think of anything but making our family pay for what our mother did to his sister.”

  Alivia lets out a little breathy sound of disgust. “I wasn’t too impressed with the Allaways to begin with, but this…”

  “Then we have to take advantage of the next few months,” Lexington says, desperation picking up in his voice. “How long do we have until the baby comes?”

  “About twenty-three weeks,” I tell without having to do any kind of math. “Just over five months.”

  “Done,” Ian says, standing a little straighter, his muscles tensing, his eyes scanning the area around us. “I didn’t kill Charles before because we were worried about repercussions from Cyrus. But is he really going to be that disappointed that he has to pick a new family a few months earlier now? We’ll track him down, take him out.”

  My brother, the one who scooped me up as a two-year-old and ran from a vampire, the one who braided my hair when I was in first grade, the one who told me goodnight every night until I was fifteen, plans to kill someone I know personally.

  There’s a lot of blood on my brother’s hands. Many ends met.

  It’s just a part of who he is.

  “Elle,” Lexington says quietly. “It has to be done. If we don’t take him out, he’s still going to try to kill you once the baby is born. And none of us are going to let that happen.”

  I look into his eyes. This is a world of endless death and plots. That’s never going to change.

  I nod, swallowing around the stone in my throat.

  “He’s going to be in hiding,” Lexington says once he sees my acceptance. “He’ll want to keep tabs on Elle, but he’s not going to be in any hurry to die. He’s a bit of a coward. He’ll be avoiding us, and if he’s gotten any wind about the Hunters, he’ll know to stay far away from them. If he’s really only got three House members left, there’s a good chance he’ll just say screw everything and hunker down on his own.”

  “That’s it then,” Alivia says seriously. “This is the end of the House of Allaway. There’s no way he can continue to rule in any form at all if he’s just in hiding. He has to know he isn’t coming out of this alive.”

  The end of an era.

  I rub my hand over my stomach again.

  And the dawn of a new one.

  I swallow once, looking down at my stomach. So much unknown. So much to rebuild.

  Not just the House of Allaway.

  But I have to figure out how to live my own life again. With a million more complications thrown in.

  “But in the meantime, you need to protect yourself, Elle,” Alivia says. I look up to meet her eyes, finding support and strength there. “There are going to be a lot of questions when what happened to you becomes more obvious.”

  Everyone’s eyes drop to my stomach.

  She doesn’t continue speaking right away, and I know whatever she says next is going to be a delicate idea.

  “If anyone finds out that child is Charles’, it could be dangerous, in so many ways,” she says gently, holding my eyes. “But no one has to know it’s his.”

  Alivia’s eyes lift from mine to settle on Lexington.

  I look over at him, the realization of what she’s implying dawning in my brain.

  “Done,” Lexington says. He’s trying to sound confident, but I can hear the tightness in his throat. See the little hint of complexity in his eyes. But still, he wraps his arm around my shoulders and pulls me tighter to him. “It makes sense, it adds up. If anyone asks, it’s mine, and Elle was already pregnant before she was taken.”

  Emotion bites at the back of my eyes. It’s strong. Fierce. More powerful than I want it to be.

  The breath stills in my chest, and I can’t suck any of it in. I can’t look up at anyone. I press my hands together and tuck them between my knees to keep them from shaking.

  “Fine,” Ian says. “Can’t say I love the idea, but it works
.” He pulls his phone out. “We can worry about all of that later. For now, we have some hunting to do.”

  He dials a number and holds the phone up to his ear, turning away from us while he speaks into the phone.

  “I’m going to have to go back to Silent Bend,” Alivia says as she sinks onto the bench beside me. She reaches out and takes my hand in hers. “I’ve been gone as long as I think I can. Nial will be anxious to hand things back over. Ian will lead the hunting team and I’ll give him as many House members as he thinks will be helpful. We’ve got some solid and talented people in the House of Conrath.”

  She smiles, and I’m glad for the change of focus, and count the possibilities off in my head: Anna, Danny, Christian. And who knows how many new Born I’ve never even met.

  “But I don’t want you worrying about any of it,” Alivia says, fixing her eyes on mine. “You need to focus on you. On moving on from this wretched revenge Charles has in mind. You need to get back to what you love, Elle. Because you deserve it.”

  There is so much love in her eyes, so much tenderness. It’s hard to believe that at one point she was becoming such a dark and twisted queen. Guess that’s what losing the one you love does to you.

  I nod, appreciative to have such a tried and true example.

  “Your only job is to take care of this amazing woman,” Alivia says, smiling as she looks over at Lexington. “Help her find herself again. Hold her close.”

  I look over at Lexington, and he wears a sad, but determined smile. “Always.”

  It’s a promise I know he’ll keep.

  Ian hangs up the phone and walks back to us. “Danny, Christian, Smith, Pearl, and Juanita will fly in tomorrow. They’re all down for a hunting trip.”

  I nod. “Take Michael with you. He can’t stay here, it’s obviously not safe for him in the city anymore. And I think he wants to kill Charles more than you do.”

  The look in Ian’s eyes says he doubts it, but he nods his head in agreement anyway.

  “Let our complicated lives continue,” I breathe.

  We cross the bridge from Boston to Cambridge, Lexington’s car extremely crowded with five adult bodies in it; Ian, Alivia, Lexington, Michael, and myself, all headed for the House of Martials.