“You found what I’ve always searched for, and you kept it from me.”
“Sal, I was trying toprotectyou!”
“From what, Lore?!”Now she raises her voice, too. “From confirming everything I’ve ever believed is true—?”
She leans against the wall for support, raking in deep breaths.
I close the space between us. “Are you okay?”
“Stay away from me,” she says with a snarl, holding a hand up in warning.“I thought we were sisters, but for you to keep this from me—you’re not the person I knew.”
The betrayal on her face is worse than anything I’ve experienced at Huntington. I can barely move as she stalks out, her phone’s light retreating down the dark stairs.
She didn’t ask me to prove anything. She needed no evidence beyond my word.
That kind of trust takes a lifetime to earn—
And one bad decision to break.
CHAPTER 29william
William is on a train, in a private car with Nate and Cisco, en route to Boston to get his new identity. Nate sits across from him and Cisco is to his left, closest to the door.
Something about the small space and their positioning makes William feel walled in. He gets the sense that even if he didn’t want their company, they would be escorting him anyway.
This past week, the vampires took him to tourist attractions like Central Park, the American Museum of Natural History, and the Empire State Building; a dimly lit speakeasy filled with clouds of smoke and half-dressed servers, where they had to compel their way in; and a musical on Broadway about a man named Alexander Hamilton who was a contemporary of William’s, only the vampire had never heard of him. The rest of the time was spent at home, where they taught him how to play games with headsets and controllers.
“It has been a week since we met,” says William, “and I am still waiting for you to explain what exactly happened to our kind.”
Nate just stares back at him for a beat. William constantly feels the ponytailed vampire observing him, as if every moment were some kind of test.
“You are rather impatient for an immortal,” Nate says at last. “You are alsothe youngest vampire I’ve ever encountered. How old were you when you were turned? Eighteen, nineteen?”
“You do not look much older yourself,” says William. “Twenty-one, twenty-two?”
“The Treaty’s minimum age for turning humans was twenty-five, so that we would not affect humanity’s reproduction rate,” Nate reminds him. “Perhaps you have been in the company of that Familiar for so long that you have forgotten that in our day, mortal lifespans were not what they are now.”
William knows Nate did not bringherup by accident because this is the first time in a week that she has been invoked. It has also not escaped his notice that they are heading in her direction. Boston is just a few hours from Hanover.
“Lorena,you called her?” There is nothing casual about Nate’s question. His stare is so invasive that William wonders if the vampire can read thoughts. “Why don’t we pay her a visit?”
“Another day,” says William, not taking the bait. “How did you find me in Hanover?” he asks, trying to redirect the conversation.
“We picked up on your scent. You said your last name wasPride?” William gives a sharp nod, wary of where Nate is headed next. “There was a prominent Pride family in London… a favored bloodline among the Stokers. Many of you used to get turned once you came of age.”
“You have heard of us then.”
Nate’s mouth widens like he just caught William in a trap. “Yet for a Londoner, your accent seems to have Americanized.”
“My parents moved to the colonies before I was born.” William turns to Cisco just to take a break from Nate’s intrusive stare. “What about you? You look like you could be twenty-five.”
“I am!” says Cisco, like he is glad to join the conversation. “I grew up in Mexico with Natalio. He’s my older cousin, and he got turned first—”
“The fuck did we talk about,Francisco?”
Nate’s dark eyes are so blistering, William thinks he spies reddish notes in their depths. Cisco purses his lips and drops his gaze, as a shamed child might do. It seems at odds with his powerful frame and older appearance.
“Hanover is quite the distance from Brooklyn,” William presses, hoping Nate will let something slip in his anger. He still has no idea what the vampire wants from him, but he gets the distinct impression Nate is waiting for something to happen. “What were you doing in the area the day we met?”
