Ageless (17 page)

“He’s right,” Margo said. Her voice
trembled at first, but then got stronger. “You put all of us at
risk, especially Violet, if you don’t trust us enough to keep us in
the loop.”

A thought suddenly occurred to
Violet. “How did you know?” Violet asked. She flushed under
Jeremiah’s heated gaze. “How did you know that if I drank vampire
blood I’d die?”

“Question of the day,” Jonah said
flatly, as he crossed his arms.

Jeremiah put his hands on his hips
and sighed. “I became privy to information that the vampires were
not the only ones whose bloodlines Brockhart Ward tampered with.
The old bastard cast a spell that ensured that his family would
never be able to be turned into vampires. Any Ward who drank
vampire blood would die.”

“That’s what happened to Rose,
wasn’t it?” Jonah whispered. The surprise and pain in his voice was
evident. “You tried to make her like us, didn’t you?”

Jeremiah’s face was unreadable.
“She asked me to make her vampire so that she could escape her
father. I thought that I was only fulfilling her wishes. I had no
idea what would happen. I’m sorry, Jonah.”

“How could you keep this from me?”
Jonah said, his voice harsh. “You knew what she meant to me and all
this time you were the one who killed her?”

“It wasn’t me that did that to
Rose. It was her father. I didn’t tell you because I couldn’t risk
having you turn against me at a time when I needed you by my side.
As far as what happened to Violet, I thought that we had already
agreed that we wouldn’t risk potentially tainting her abilities by
diluting even a drop of it with our own blood. I didn’t know that
you’d break from that agreement the moment things got a bit out of
control.”

Violet was horrified. There was
much more to the story of what happened between the Montrose
brothers and her ancestor than she suspected. “So if the
circumstances had been switched, and it was you who had pulled me
from the railcar, Jeremiah, you would have let me die?” she asked
defiantly.

“Violet, I believe you are the one
that we have been waiting for a thousand years to be born. I
knew
that
person
would be able to wield the magic that has flowed through the veins
of Ward family for centuries. That woman,
you
, would have the ability to heal
yourself if properly focused. And you did.”

Violet sat very still. She had not
questioned waking up and having her eyesight restored. She thought
it was some kind of residual effect of drinking Jonah’s blood. Her
stomach was doing flip-flops. “How could you be so
certain?”

Jeremiah stepped to her side and
then knelt down in front of her. He took her hand and held it up in
the firelight. She could faintly see the gold swirls still there
shining in the fire’s dim glow. “How can you not?”

Jonah stood up and started to pace.
Jeremiah’s eyes held her for another moment, and then he broke
away, standing back up. “We have to go to Cove Point.”

“WHAT?” Margo and Jonah’s voice
were in union.

“No way in hell,” Jonah said. “Are
you crazy, Jeremiah? You are going to get us all
killed.”

Jonah pushed past Margo and stood
in front of Violet, blocking her view. “I won’t let you do this. I
don’t know what you are thinking or planning, but the three of us
are out. Violet’s been through enough and I’m sick of your lies
thinking you know better than everyone else. We’re all in this mess
because of the way you treated Elysa to begin with.”

“Elysa is unstable. She had always
been unstable. And let me remind you, Jonah, that you are not off
scot-free in that regard,” Jeremiah said, his teeth clenched. “You
and Margo are free to do whatever you want, Jonah. You always have
been. But Violet is staying with me.”

“The hell she is!” Jonah said. He
stepped forward and pushed Jeremiah backwards. “You need to get a
clue, Jeremiah. You don’t own everyone in the world.”

Jeremiah’s nostrils flared but he
didn’t move. “You want to take a step back, little
brother.”

“Make me,” Jonah said, pushing hard
on Jeremiah’s chest again. This time Jeremiah’s hands swung up and
he shoved Jonah’s arms away.

Violet stood then. “Stop it, both
of you!”

Neither man looked at her. They
were both glaring at each other. Violet knew that this was not
going to end well for anyone. But they didn’t move.

“I am sick and tired of everyone
else thinking they can make decisions for me. I’m eighteen years
old and I am standing right here! No one is going to tell me what
I’m going to do or where I’m going to go. Once someone bothers to
stand still long enough to tell me what the hell Cove Point is and
why I should go there, then you can both go straight to hell!” Her
voice had gotten louder and louder as she felt the words bubbling
in the back of her throat.

By this time, both men had shifted
their stance and looked at her with shocked expressions on their
faces. She was flabbergasted at how idiotic they looked. She put
her hands on her hips. “If you want my help, then I expect you to
ask for it. This isn’t a thousand years ago and I’m not some
simpering girl who is going to swoon at your feet because you
looked in her direction. Now sit down and tell me what the hell is
going on.” Three pairs of wide eyes looked at her. She took a deep
breath and sat down. As calmly as she could, she finished.
“Please.”

Margo plunked down beside her.
“Well done, Vi. I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen either one
of them speechless.”

Both brothers looked abashed, but
Jeremiah’s expression quickly crossed to chagrin. But he sat down
and crossed his arms. Jonah sat down as well, but as far from his
brother as he could manage without sitting on the sand.

“What would you like to know,
Violet?” Jeremiah finally said. She could tell that the effort of
keeping his voice neutral was challenging him.

“What is Cove Point?” she said. She
had a million questions, but she thought it best to keep it to the
basics for the moment.

“Cove Point was my estate when we
first migrated here to the U.S.,” Jeremiah replied. He leaned
forward, putting his elbows on his knees.

When he didn’t continue, Violet
sensed that she was going to have to pull the information out of
him. He wasn’t giving it up willingly. She didn’t understand why he
was choosing to be so difficult.

“So why is everyone getting upset
about going there?” she asked.

Jonah rolled his eyes and sighed.
“The key word in that sentence?
Was
. It
was
his estate.”

“Elysa got it when they broke up,”
Margo said.

“Like a divorce settlement?” Violet
would have found the detail funny if the situation had been
different. She wondered how serious things actually had been
between Jeremiah and Elysa.

“Funny how he always leaves
important details out, isn’t it?” Jonah said smugly.

Jeremiah’s face
darkened.

“Elysa is your cousin,” Violet
said, turning to Margo, who nodded and grimaced.

“Elysa’s husband died in the war,
and the whole family was on suicide watch. Little did we know she
found a way to be able to die, but stay young forever. Elysa has
always been that vain. Jeremiah wouldn’t turn her though.” Margo
glanced back and forth between Jeremiah and Jonah and then sighed
when neither one added anything. “So she had to find someone else
to do it. I think when she turned, she came completely unhinged.
Elysa was always a bit of a black sheep in the family.”

Violet felt like she wanted to rip
her hair out. “Okay, so let me see if I got this straight. Jeremiah
the vampire.” She pointed at Jeremiah. “Dated and dumped Elysa the
mortal crazy lady. Then he left her, but somehow she got his house.
Then Elysa ran off and somehow found a way to become a vampire
anyway. Now she’s pissed off and trying to find any way possible to
get back at him.”

“Elysa wouldn't leave the house so
I left instead. I just haven't taken it back yet. An important
piece that you are missing though is that Jonah turned her,”
Jeremiah said.

Violet’s mouth dropped open.
“What?”

Jonah’s head dropped into his
hands. “That’s a long story for another time.”

Violet looked back at Margo, who
rolled her eyes. “Brother drama,” Margo whispered.

Violet wasn’t sure which part she
was more uncomfortable with, the fact that Elysa was crazy or that
clearly the brothers had been fighting over women for centuries.
She wasn’t sure if she was just one of another long line of
Jeremiah’s conquests now, but she had to remember that he had been
the one who had stopped things on the beach. She shook her head to
clear her thoughts.

“Let’s come back to that one,
because that whole thing is tripping me out. Let’s talk about me
instead. I come from some really long line of witches—”

“And warlocks,” Margo
interrupted.

It was Violet’s turn to sigh. “And
warlocks. My family was like BFF with the Montrose coven until
Jeremiah decided to hook up with my ancestor, which made her dad
super angry and he cursed all of you, which created the first
bloodthirsty vampires. But he also made an antidote, which has been
hidden away and evolved into the myth that we all know as the
Fountain of Youth.”

“Dang, Vi. You are wicked smart.
You totally should’ve gotten into Brown,” Margo said.

Margo's reminder of a life that was
so far removed from her current state was almost laughable. That
girl and that dream were fading quickly. “Everything correct so
far?” she said, looking straight at Jeremiah.

“More or less,” he said.

“Do you know what this is?” she
said, pointing to her hand. The symbols were no longer visible, but
she swirled her finger around in the designs that she remembered
there.

“To me, it’s the map to our future.
To you, it’s your spell book. It’s the physical manifestation of
your power and the power of all of your ancestors. On the day of
your transition into adulthood, you inherit your destiny,” Jeremiah
said. He looked surprised to have said so much.

“You know this because...” Violet
pushed.

“It’s what happened to Rose,”
Jeremiah said.

“It was crazy cool, Violet. She
used to let us just sit and watch as she created flowers out of
thin air to set on tables and how music floated around her even
though no one was playing an instrument. She loved beautiful things
and surrounded herself with them. She had the same markings,” Jonah
said.

As Jonah spoke, Violet heard a
longing in his voice that she recognized. Jeremiah wasn’t the only
one who had had feelings for her ancestor, and she was sure that
was what was at the core of the brothers’ dispute with each other.
She remembered Jeremiah mentioning that Rose had courted other
men’s affections. That would have been awkward.

“So I’m a witch,” she said slowly,
turning the word over on her tongue.

“A very powerful witch,” Jeremiah
agreed. “That’s why Elysa was trying to get to you before your
birthday. You are stronger now. Completely and totally
inexperienced, but strong.”

Violet was annoyed when he
emphasized the word “inexperienced” even though she knew that he
was just speaking the truth. It didn’t make it smart any
less.

“My grandmother mentioned that we
were going to Elysa’s estate. I take it she meant Cove Point,”
Violet said. Without waiting for confirmation, she continued. “So
what are we doing at Cove Point? Assuming Elysa doesn’t show up
first and decide to start something. Seems to me we’d be going
anywhere
but
Cove
Point.”

“I built the house there because I
was told that it sits on an intersection of great power between
this world and the next one. It is a place where the fabric of our
reality is thin, and so it is possible to reach through and
communicate with those that you need on the other side,” Jeremiah
said.

“What is it you think I need to
do?” Violet said, gulping. All of her earlier confidence was
gone.

“You need to draw on the wisdom of
your ancestors and ask for the key to deciphering the spells on
your skin.”

“So that I can reverse the curse,”
Violet said. “Make it so that you don’t need blood to survive
anymore.”

“Reversing the curse would be of
exceptional benefit to me, Jonah, Margo, and our kin,” Jeremiah
said. “But by communicating with your ancestors you are also going
to be able to fast-track your own knowledge and gain control over
the power you have at your fingertips.”

Chewing on her lower lip, Violet
considered his words. “What about Elysa?” she asked.

“You worry about communicating with
your ancestors. Let me worry about Elysa,” Jeremiah said
grimly.

Several hours later, they were
traveling at over a hundred miles an hour down a deserted two-lane
highway in central Florida. The air outside was stuffy from the
sultry heat, and Violet found herself wishing for the cool ocean
breeze that was fading like a distant memory. Once inside the small
sporty car, all conversation between the four passengers had
ceased. Margo pushed Jonah into the front seat so that she and
Violet occupied the back. Jeremiah turned on a blues station, but
otherwise it was dead silent.